Today (3/27/2011) Tracy beat the very best biathletes in the world in biathlon's premier event, the "Veltins World Team Challenge" at Schalke, Germany.  Tracy grabbed top honors in the coveted Shootout event, which is a shooting competition that tests the 20 top biathletes in the world. In this invitation-only event, 10 women compete head-to-head during a four stage shooting event which is the same format as that used in a regular biathlon race (two prone, two standing).  The top four ladies from this preliminary round face off with the top four men from their first round to see who is the best shooter in the final round of competition.  Tracy came in 1st for the women's round AND 1st in the final competition with the four best women and four best men!!!  This was an exciting competition for the athletes and the 50,000+ spectators at the Veltins Soccer Stadium as it was the first time that laser-rifles replaced the traditional 22-caliber rifle.  The athletes received their laser-guns on Saturday and had only one day to practice before the World Team Challenge. Tracy and her US teammate Tim Burke finished 9th in the pairs mass start and 10th in the pursuit race held the same day. 
 
Tracy's personal support team (her husband Gary and her Dad) accompanied her to Germany for this wonderful biathlon event.  Her sister Lanny is competing at a new biathlon course in Mammoth Lakes, California this weekend.
 
If you'd like to see an article with pictures, click on the following link (you can translate with goggle translator).  http://www.biathlon-online.de/news-89/4960-tracy-barnes-gewinnt-shoot-out-wettbewerb-auf-schalke.html 

Week 3 of the RV Diaries: Uncertainty of Battle

It’s my last night in the RV. In all I’ve spent 20 days and nights inside this little house on wheels. And every night, except this one sleep has come at no cost. But tonight there’s something on my mind. I’m only one race away from accomplishing something that no one else in United States Biathlon has ever accomplished. Something I’ve never even come close to accomplishing. It is something however that I’ve dreamed of for years and have rehearsed in my head many times before. I’m so mentally practiced that this should come easy to me. It should be easy to accomplish. But it isn’t. And it won’t be.

Yesterday I “cleaned” my 3^rd race in a row. “Cleaning” is a termed used to describe a race in which the athlete hits all their targets, either 10 for 10 or 20 for 20, shooting 100%. Cleaning 2 races in a row is not entirely uncommon. Cleaning 3 races in a row is quite a feat, but doing it in 4 is something entirely different. For every race you clean the pressure mounts and those little targets you are shooting at, only seem to get smaller and harder to hit. Adrenaline kicks in and your muscles start to shake.

I know what awaits me out on the course today. I have a target on my back the size of an American flag. Yesterday I won the race. It was a German Cup race and I was lucky enough to beat all of the Germans (as well as a Canadian, some Brits and a Norwegian). But not without a price.  Today they’ll be gunning for me. It’s a mass start and this race is a head to head brawl on the tracks. There’s no solo trip around the tracks, or solitary bout at the range. You are fighting head –to-head the whole race. Clawing your way up the hills, fighting for position, and shooting as fast and as accurately as possible to gain an advantage in the range. 

So, why does sleep allude me? Is it the target on my back? Is it the fear and apprehension of going into battle? Or the unknown opportunity to achieve a dream? I ponder this for a second, and then realize it’s none of these. I’m excited. That’s it and that’s all. I wish the race were right now. Walk up to the start, set your skis down, yell “battle”, and begin. So, with excitement running through my veins I close my eyes and think “bring it on Deutschland” and fall asleep.

Several hours later, I’m lined up at the start line. I’m surrounded by the black, red and gold of the German suits. Everyone is breathing hard and fidgeting as we await the gun that will signal the start of the race.  Thoughts are running through my head like a freight train. My eyes feeling like I’m reading a book at warp speed while I try to interpret all the thoughts in my head. Then suddenly a “bang”.  I lean on my poles and my skis rocket forward. Any thoughts that were in my head are now gone. I look a head of me and see the track and a sea of girls. Poles and skis are everywhere. Girls are jockeying for position. I get in behind a couple of Germans and try to focus on relaxing.

The hills in Ruhpolding are steep and the descents are unnerving.  Already after the first loop my legs are screaming. We climb to the top of a steep hill and descend down around a corner that does a 180 to the left. I hear a sound and look back to see a girl go skidding on her stomach down off the side of the trail. I look back ahead again as the range comes into view. We ski around a corner and you can hear the roar of the crowd as we approach the range.  I close my eyes and think “just breath”, which kind of makes me laugh as I’m struggling for breath and my heart is pounding over180 beats per minute. I take one big deep breath and open my eyes. It’s almost as if a switch went off in my brain. There are no thoughts of the crowd. No thoughts of the competitors around me, or the pressure of reaching my goal. I’m in autopilot now.

I ski into the range and up to a shooting point. I’m quickly down on my knees and slinging my gun off my back. Then I lay down, take a deep breath and squeeze off the trigger. I take five shots and five targets fall. I’m then back on my feet and skiing out of the range. I look around and am accompanied by 3 other German’s. They’ve “cleaned” the shooting stage too. And I smile to myself as I know this is going to be a race until the end.

We jockey for position and fight on the hills.  Up and down we go, changing leads, and fighting back and forth. We race into the range and come to a screeching halt on the shooting points. The crowd is now completely animated as it’s turning into a battle. Once again I shoot five shots, and five more targets fall.  Once again I’m accompanied by the same 3 Germans, each hitting all of their targets as well.

We battle again on the skis. I drop in behind the other girls as I know the real battle is just about to start, and that’s the standing shooting. The standing stages are the last two bouts in the range and are by far the hardest. You’re getting more tired as you’ve already raced close to 5 miles and the standing position is more difficult than prone. We once again ski into the range and up to the shooting point. I drop my poles on the mat and sling my gun off my back. I take aim. The first 4 shots go down easy and then, right before the last shot a thought sneaks into my head. This thought is my enemy. It’s worse than any competitor, and makes a race more difficult than any hill we have to climb. It’s uncertainty and doubt. It’s the thing that keeps most people from accomplishing what they are capable of achieving. All it took was a split second and my focus is shattered. I hear the crowd, the sound of the shots from the other girls around me. I can feel the ache of my legs and the pounding of my heart in my chest.

For just a split second panic creeps in.  I feel my legs tense and as I look down my barrel the target is dancing around everywhere. Hitting this target seems like trying to ­­. It’s almost impossible. Almost.

Then I close my eyes. Take a deep breath. A sense of calm washes over me as I think, “It’s just one target. I’ve done this thousands of times in training. I’m ready for this.” It’s why we train. It’s why we study for that test or prepare so much for that presentation. So that when the time comes we are ready.  And can do it without hesitation. So, with that my eyes open and the shot is there. I squeeze the trigger and before the target even falls my gun is on my back and I’m skiing out of the range. I know it was a hit.

The last stage took victim two of the German girls. One is out ahead of me and the other two are skiing off their penalty loops from missed targets. I race hard over the loop and back into the range for the final standing stage. Out of nowhere a German girl races up beside me. She was able to ski off her penalty loop and was stronger over the loop on her skis and caught me just before the range. We come into the range together and the crowd is going wild. I look down to the first shooting point, where the German girl in first place is shooting. She has 3 more targets to go as we ski into the points next to her. Our presence must have broken her concentration because she missed her last two shots, opening the door for myself and the other German. We both quickly get into position.

Now the pressure is on. Not only am I shooting for a goal of cleaning 4 races, but for the win as well. This time however, my focus doesn’t waver and the five targets fall without hesitation. The girl I’m shooting with also hits her five and now it becomes a ski race.  We both battle hard over the last loop, but in the end the girl was too fast for me and I finished second.

Now it’s race over and I’m heading back to the States. I accomplished my goal of cleaning 4 races in a row and am leaving Europe after avoiding the penalty loop (an extra 150 meter loop skied by athletes for each target missed).  I learned a lot during this trip especially that your faith in your dreams cannot waiver, especially in the uncertainty of a battle. And with that I turn the RV north to drive back to Munich and prepare for the next battle, whenever that will come.

Barnes Twins Podium in first race at the German Cup in Oberhof, Germany. Lanny has perfect shooting for the weekend to place 1^st & 4^th in German Cup, Tracy not far behind with a 3^rd and 7^th!

Tracy and Lanny Barnes finished a tough weekend of racing in Oberhof, Germany home of biggest Biathlon World Cup stadium in Europe. They completed an individual race on Saturday and a sprint race on Sunday against some of the top athletes from Germany. Lanny walked away with a win in the individual race with perfect shooting. She hit 20 of 20 targets and recorded the best and fastest shooting of the day for men and women. Tracy followed up in 3^rd place hitting 18 of 20 targets.

 Saturday and Sunday were rare days in Oberhof with the sun shining and blue bird skies. Normal conditions in Oberhof bring heavy wind and fog, but on these two rare days, the athletes enjoyed almost perfect conditions for biathlon.

In Saturday’s race, Lanny managed to be the fastest shot in the race in all 4 stages, hitting the all 20 for 20 shots and being the only one in both the men’s and women’s field to do so. Tracy missed one shot in each of her prone stages shooting 18 for 20 and having the 3^rd fastest shooting time. They both skied well, and Lanny ended up winning the race, followed by Nicole Wotzel of Germany and Tracy rounded out the podium in third.

            The following day was a shorter 7.5 kilometer sprint race. Having beat the German’s in their own race the day before both Lanny and Tracy felt that that target on their back was growing and that the German’s would be gunning for them. Lanny skied a bit better that the previous day and Tracy suffered a bit from the lack of sleep from the night before the race and felt exhausted. Lanny again shot clean, hitting all 10 of her targets, shooting clean for the weekend! With her clean shooting Lanny ended up 4^th only seconds out of 3^rd place. Tracy missed just one shot in each stage to grab on to seven place, just seconds behind Brigitte Roksund of Norway.

1/30- Week One of the RV Diaries-

Week One of the RV Diaries- We Survived Week One!!!

We have now officially survived week one of our adventurous 3 week RV Racing Tour in Europe. We arrived in Europe last Monday and rented a very small RV for three U.S. women to travel, train, and race in Europe. This wasn’t our first choice of luxury travel, but was the most cost effective and also the most adventurous. And to three very adventurous souls… a traveling house on wheels in a foreign country and some nail biting competitions against some of Europe’s best women biathletes sounded like our cup of tea.

            Our first stop on the “tour de RV” took us to the forests of Oberhof, or “Foghof” as most people call it. Oberhof is beautiful. It has snow covered forests in every direction and endless amounts of clouds and fog. The first four days were typical Oberhof; cloudy, gray, cold, and dreary. As the weekend and the competitions grew near the clouds disappear and for three days the sun shone in a place where such things are rarely experienced.            

            The RV had been working out fairly well for us so far. We were warm, had a roof over heads and were feeling good and ready for our first race. The night before the first race we rewarded ourselves with a little treat. A night at an RV Park. Usually an extra 12 euro for a parking place and 240 volts of electricity. Normally we just park right outside the venue and run off of our battery. But tonight we plugged in to the outlet and had our computers charging and ALL the lights on. It was fabulous. We cooked a great pre-race meal and were off to bed. Several hours later we were all awake and shivering. We were out of propane. One of our bottles had run out earlier that day, which wouldn’t normally be cause for alarm, because we have two propane bottles, but the 2^nd bottle was faulty and we didn’t find that out until about 2 o’clock in the morning the night before our first race. Tracy was the first to brave the cold and got up to find a thick layer of ice on all of the windows. This was our coldest night in Oberhof yet as the skies were clear and the temperatures outside plummeted without the cloud cover. We fiddled with the propane bottle for an hour trying to get it to work, but had no success. We then tried to go to a gas station that sells propane, but you can rarely find anything open in Europe at night let alone at 2 in the morning. So, then came the long night of turning the car engine on and heating the cab up just enough so we wouldn’t freeze. Needless to say it was a long, and sleepless night before the first race.

            The next morning we crawled out of bed and down to the venue where we’d be asking our tired, cold bodies to go all out for 12.5 kilometers against some really fast German women. We zeroed our rifles and warmed up on the tracks, preparing for the start of the race. Still a little jetlagged and tired from the previous nights adventure, we knew we had to get focused because our competition wasn’t going to back off one bit.

            After getting our race skis waxed and checked in and our rifles zeroed we were ready to race. We made our way to the start pin. A place Tracy hates. The start pin is a small fenced in area with a lead out to the starting gate. It’s a staging area, or pin as it is called. It reminds Tracy of a pin that holds cows waiting to be slaughtered. She’d rather you warm up for your race head over to a place in the snow with a line drawn in it, you set your skis down and then declare that you are ready for battle. Instead there is a starting pin. Where everyone runs around in tiny circles swinging their arms, kicking their legs, doing funny jumps and stretches, basically anything you can do to keep yourself warm in a small cooped up area until the time of your start. It’s almost a war in itself inside the starting pin. You have to be careful not to get knocked in the head by some Russian wildly waving their arms around to stay warm, or get kicked by a Swede who is swinging their legs back and forth to shake them out. It makes Tracy want to start on one of the sides of the pin and jump down the middle doing kicks and summersaults while kung fu music plays in the background. That’d get her warmed up for sure and either intimidate her opponents or give them a good laugh.

            The race was interesting to say the least. Lanny was low on blood sugar and had that “eyes glazed over” feeling while Tracy spent much of the race looking around at anything and nothing, observing the strangest things. She noticed a guy carrying a little dog with his shoes untied, a certain German coach who would turn his back every time one of the Americans were skiing by (don’t know why), and she noticed the race clock by the start as she skied by it and into the range. When she noticed this she thought to herself that she’d only been racing for 30 minutes and reasoned that she had one loop left and that would take her about 7 and a half minutes plus shooting and she’d probably be taking a much needed nap by 1:00 p.m. Wow! The crazy thoughts that run threw her mind. Must have been oxygen deprivation. Anyways, through Lanny’s fogged over state and Tracy’s illuminated sense of observation, Lanny managed to be the fastest shot in the race in all 4 stages, hitting the all 20 for 20 shots and being the only one in both the men’s and women’s field to do so. Tracy missed one shot in each of her prone stages shooting 18 for 20 and having the 3^rd fastest shooting time. They both skied well, and Lanny ended up winning the race, followed by Nicole Wotzel of Germany and Tracy rounded out the podium in third.

            The following day was a shorter 7.5 kilometer sprint race. Having beat the German’s in their own race the day before both Lanny and Tracy felt that that target on their back was growing and that the German’s would be gunning for them. Lanny skied a bit better that the previous day and Tracy suffered a bit from the lack of sleep from the night before the race and felt exhausted. Lanny again shot clean, hitting all 10 of her targets, shooting clean for the weekend! With her clean shooting Lanny ended up 4^th only seconds out of 3^rd place. And Tracy misses just one shot in each stage to grab on to seven place just seconds behind Brigitte Roksund of Norway.

            With one of the three race series done, we were now confident that we’d survive our little RV adventure in Europe. We crawled, exhausted into our bunks that night praying that the gas would last us through the night and wondering what sort of adventure we had in store for us next.

I attended the Shot Show in Las Vegas this week and had a blast. I spent most of the week with the Women's Outdoor Media Association, an organization who's  focuses on increasing media coverage of women who are active in traditional outdoor sports, especially shooting, hunting, fishing and archery. They are an amazing and incredibly bright and motivated group of women that I'm so honored to have in my life. I have a blog on their website called "The Road to Russia". Check Them out at www.thewoma.com.

     Another one of my favorite group of people that I spent some time with is our long time sponsor and support OTIS. They have been with Tracy and I from the beginning of our biathlon careers and recently added us to their pro staff this spring. I can't say enough about how much of a role the OTIS family has play in the success we've had over the years. Check them out at www.otistec.com.

     The thing about the shooting and hunting industry is that they are basically a big family. It is made up of so many wonderful people that I'm proud to not only be a part of, but to also help in preserving our traditions of hunting and freedoms of owning and using firearms .  Bushmaster is another group that I spent time with while in Vegas. We have had the opportunity to visit their factory in Maine on several occasions. Jarrod from Bushmaster has been helping Tracy and I out for years and let us shoot one of Bushmasters .50cals this summer in Maine. You can check out their quality MADE IN THE USA firearms at www.bushmaster.com.

     I need to Thank Smith Optics for the awesome sunglasses they gave me. They are a great group of guys the are very passionate about not only helping giving you function and style in your glasses, but also protecting one of your most important senses, your eye sight. I was excited to hear that they are producing a lot of high quality glasses that are rated for shooting with firearms. I had a great chat with those guys and am excited about the possibility of working with them in the future. Check them out at www.smithoptics.com.

    I also spent some time with Prios Outdoor Apparel and Sealskinz waterproof socks and gloves. Sealskinz have been protecting my hands and feet from the elements for years. I also use Prois Outdoor Apparel every time I step out the door for all my hunting and fishing. Check them out at www.proishunting.com and www.dalalco.com.

     Thanks to everyone who took time out of their busy schedule to spend time with me this week. I had a great time in Vegas and look forward to seeing all of you again at the NRA Show this spring!!!

The early part of the racing season is over and so far the season is off to a great start. I just finished up 2 busy weeks of racing in Italy, Austria, and Slovenia and now I’m in Germany for some down time and training before the next go around. My European season started in the town of Martell, Italy. Martel is situated in North eastern Italy in a region known as Sud Tirol (Or south Tirol ) which covers areas of Southern Austria and Northern Italy. It is my favorite place in Europe. The mountains are breathtaking, the people are friendly, and the food is fantastic. The people here take their work seriously and everything they do is a matter of personal pride. The venue here is situated at the top of a really long valley at an elevation of just about 5,500 ft. What makes this venue unique is that there is a river running right down the middle of the range. The targets are 50 yards away from the shooting points in a biathlon range and for this range we are shooting over the river to hit the targets. The course consisted of 3 steep hills with twisty turny downhills between. There was close to 100 competitors from all over the world competing in the races. This included countries like Brazil, Korea, and of course the usual Norway, Russia, and Germany. There will likely be over 20 countries represented.

At the beginning of every year an athlete checks in their equipment to make sure that all sponsor logos are within the right size and that your rifle is fit to regulations. Every year the officials dread Lanny and me because we come with a different paint job. Some they approve of and some they do not. Two years ago I left the equipment check with duct tape all over my rifle covering the paint job I had done and was so proud of. This year I kept it simple. Black and white with different animals painted all over it. I was nervous about them wanting to cover the animals up. One year Lanny had a roaring Tiger and the guy told her to cover the eyes and the claws, but the teeth were okay. (not sure the reasoning behind that one, but okayJ) So the official started to look over my rifle and then he jerks his head up and looks at me with a concerned look, “what is this?” Terrified, I looked down, thinking to myself that it was over, the duct tape was coming out and my artwork was going to get covered up. I then saw that he was pointing at my barrel. “What is this?”, he repeated, “Is this an anti aircraft gun?” I almost laughed when I realized that he was pointing out my new barrel. Earlier Lanny and I had a Teludyne Tech Straight Jacket  Barrel system installed to increase the stiffness and accuracy of our barrels. The official proceeded to measure the chamber, the bolt, the action and the barrel. When I explained it to him he seemed to relax a bit. He was concerned that I had put some sort of barrel on there that would, in his words, take down a tank. Several years back Anschutz, which makes most of the biathlon rifles, started shaving down the barrel and action to make them lighter. This was so you didn’t have to carry around so much weight for 15 kilometers up and down really steep hills. What most biathletes gained in speed on skis, they lost in accuracy on the range. The barrels became less rigid and more susceptible to the cold. That’s where TTI came in. Not only did they make the barrels more accurate, shooting bullet width sized groups, but it held its group in temperatures hovering around -10 F. So, the officials told me that they’d watch to make sure that a grenade didn’t come out of the end of my barrel and that they thought it was ok and I was all set for they year!

When we first got to Martel we went on a short run to stretch out the legs. It was dark and there was 4 of us running. We turned around a corner to hear the sound of bells and little children screaming. I knew right away that we were bearing down on a scene with the Krampus. The hairy, masked portrayers of a demon like creature who chased around little kids during the Christmas season to scare them into being good. I’ve had an encounter with them before and wasn’t interested in another. They wear full body suits that resemble that of Chewbaca from Star Wars and a mask that might even have the devil scared. They carry willow branches and literately whip any kid within reach. If you didn’t know the tradition you’d think it horrible for the kids to be receiving such a beating, but if you knew and understood the tradition, it’s actually quite entertaining. The Krampus is a contrast to St. Nicholas who gives children presents when they are good.  So, we ran (quite quickly) past the Krampus and luckily they were busy with other children that only one noticed us. He was rather small and came jogging after us. One of the guys on the men’s team (who’s tall and strong) turn and stood his ground. The small Krampus took one look at my teammate and seemed to think twice about chasing us down. I let out a sigh of relief, which was only short lived, because I knew we’d have to run back past them to get back to our hotel. On the way back we were forced to run in a line due to oncoming car traffic and the two teammates, who were running in front of me received a solid whip across the front of their thighs from one of the Krampus. I was quite happy that this time I came out unscathed from my encounter with the Krampus. I must have been good this year.

The races started out great with one Top 20 result in the Individual race and one Top 10 result. I just missed out on the podium (top 6) with a 7^th place finish in the Sprint. The races were difficult with almost gale force winds to deal with in the range and twisty fast downhills on the course. I found myself in quite a predicament in the individual race when I fell on one of the downhills and ended up on my back with my skis facing uphill and my gun wedged under the fence. I tried for what seemed like forever to move, but I was stuck. My gun was pinned and I was stuck there flopping like a fish trying to get up. Then all of a sudden someone had their hands under my arms and I was airborne. They picked me up and turned me around so that I was facing downhill and I was off. The worst part of it was that my flopping around on my back like a seal caused m stock to crack up near the harness, so that night I glued the crack so it’d be ready for the sprint the next day.                                                                                 

The next week took me to Austria, where I found out I’d qualified for a world cup race in Slovenia. So I spent a day in Austria, then drove to Slovenia to the town of Bled. Bled is a beautiful town on a lake. At one end of the lake there is an island with a church on it and on the other side of the lake there are rock cliffs with a gorgeous castle. I was only there for 2 days and didn’t have that great of a race. I found that my confidence in my skiing was wavering and I didn’t perform very well. Then immediately following the Slovenia race I drove back to Austria where I raced the following two days.

            Being back in Austria I was more on top of my game and excited to race.  I had a strong sprint, missing only one target and placed 21^st. The next day would be a pursuit race and I was only a few targets away from a podium. I started out the pursuit well on the first loop feeling strong, then I got tired. This was my 3^rd race in a row with a lot of travel and I was feeling it. Never-the-less I dug deep and shot well to move up 10 places to 11^th. It was one of my best pursuits and a great way to end the early season.

Now I’m in Munich, Germany for a few days of R&R. Merry Christmas to everyone!

PRÓIS HUNTING AND FIELD APPAREL ADDS SIX ACCOMPLISHED WOMEN TO ITS IMPRESSIVE ROSTER OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE PRO AND FIELD STAFF

Over the past few years, Próis Hunting and Field Apparel has become the clothing brand of choice for some of the most high-profile, successful female hunters and shooters in the industry based largely on the gear's incredible fit, technologically advanced fabrics and superior performance.  This year, Próis is showing no signs of slowing down, as the company has announced the addition of four new impressive female hunters/shooters to its roster of 'hard core' Pro Staffers: Julie Golob, Rebecca Francis and twin sisters Tracy and Lanny Barnes.  Plus, the company has also  added two amazing women to its team of Field Staff: Stacey Huston and Terri Lee Pocernich.

 "Whether in the field or on the range, each of these ladies are successful because they demand the most from themselves and their equipment," said Próis Hunting and Field Apparel President and CEO, Kirstie Pike.  "We're proud to be associated with each of these incredible female hunters/shooters and are honored that they depend on our gear even in the most extreme conditions."

 As the winner of 14 World, 18 U.S. National, and over 80 Championship titles in state, regional and international competitions, Julie Golob has brought new meaning to 'shooting like a girl'.  And she doesn't trust her success to just any gear when on the range, with a US Army Female Athlete of the Year (1999) title under her belt, she can only rely on the best from Próis.  To further add to her long list of accolades, Golob is captain of team Smith and Wesson, the first and only Five Division USPSA Ladies National Champion and the first woman to ever earn a USPSA Nationals Triple Crown.

Julie Golob- Photo by Yamil Sued

 Mother of eight children, and winner of the 2009 "Extreme Huntress" nationwide contest, Rebecca Francis laughs at any challenge that crosses her path.  Her long list of 'extreme' trophies includes two Alaskan brown bears, an African lion, many plains game, dall sheep, bighorn sheep, moose, black bear, antelope, New Zealand red stag, and several trophy mule deer and elk.  Since becoming the "Extreme Huntress" she has begun freelance writing for several outdoor magazines and is currently working on a TV show based on women's extreme hunting. 

Rebecca Francis

 A love for fishing, hunting, shooting and just plain being in the great outdoors scored twin sisters Tracy and

Lanny Barnes spots on the U.S. Biathlon team (an Olympic sport that combines cross-country skiing with rifle marksmanship).  And after a few years of perfecting their skills, they made their first World Jr. Championship team at the young age of 18 and became the first women in the US to have medaled in the World Jr. Championships the next year at the age of 19.  Since their junior career, they've competed in World Cups and several World Championships as well as the 2006 Olympic games.  Plus, Lanny represented the U.S. at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic games, where she posted the best U.S. finish in 16 years.  They both are pushing to become the first women in the U.S. to medal in the Olympics in 2014 held in Sochi, Russia. 

Lanny Barnes at the Olympics in Vancouver  

Tracy Barnes

 Stacey Huston has shared a passion for 'all things outdoors' since growing up in the mountains of north west Montana.  That same passion has led her to a career as a wildlife photographer, with photos published in several high-profile magazines, and catalog cover shots.  She is also a licensed falconer and a Sub Permitee for Ironside Bird Rescue - rehabilitating birds of prey to ensure they are strong enough to once again soar the open skies.

 Entrepreneur and writer Terri Lee Pocernich has chased whitetails since the early age of 10, having grown up in the quiet town of Hayward, Wisconsin.  Aside from being an avid hunter, she's a wife, a mother of four and owner of the popular Camp Wild Girls website, and now the new Home Hunting Parties concept which has recently hit the ground running receiving tremendous interest within the industry.  An experienced writer, she has her own blog at SkinnyMoose.com and writes regularly for the Women's Outdoor News and the Women's Outdoor Media Association.  Plus, she's also in the process of co-producing an online show in conjunction with AM:PM Outdoors and Sharp Hill Outdoor Production to be called "Battle Scraps."

Terri Lee Pocernich

These accomplished ladies join an already impressive list of Pro and Field Staff that include the likes of Linda Powell, Senior Press Relations Manager and Conservation Sales Manager for Remington Firearms; freelance writer and public relations firm owner, Stephanie Mallory; and award-winning freelance writer Barbara Baird.to name a few.

 Próis was created for women, by women who refuse to settle for downsized men's gear or upsized children's gear.  Each garment is created with the most technologically advanced fabrics available and a host of advanced features to provide comfort, silence and durability.  Their out-of-the-box thinking has resulted in amazing designs for serious hunters that have taken the industry by storm and raised the bar for women's outdoor apparel.

 For more information about the new additions to Próis' Pro and Field staff or to learn more about Próis' innovative line of serious, high- performance huntwear for real women, contact: Próis Hunting and Field Apparel, 28001-B US Highway 50, Gunnison, CO 81230 · (970) 641-3355 or e-mail our Staff Coordinator Katherine Browne at Katherine@proishunting.com

Most embarrassing moments … we’ve all had them. In an effort to be the best and accomplish something great sometimes we make mistakes, and sometimes we make them big. We all hope that no one is watching, or that no one heard the shot, or that our hunting buddy won’t go back and tell everyone at camp what just happened.

Tracy Barnes

These moments make us want to hang our head or hide in a cave. We tuck these moments away in the back of our mind hoping to forget them. But they’re always there so every once in awhile we are reminded that we are human, and that no matter how hard we try … things don’t always go as planned.

When I think of my most embarrassing moments, I think of them being quite public. By public, I mean that some of them were aired on television to millions of European, Russians and Scandinavians. Maybe that added to the embarrassment of it. When I think of these moments, I picture myself awkwardly dancing around on stage in a jester’s outfit with a dunce cap on, circus music playing in the background and Bozo the clown pointing his finger at me and laughing. In fact, I don’t think Bozo was the only one laughing.

It was February 2005, pre-Olympic year. The U.S. Biathlon Team found itself at what was to be the 2006 Torino Olympic venue for a trial World Cup the year before. Every Olympic venue hosts a trial run the year before the Olympics to test out the venue, the staff, the organization, etc.

We had already competed in two individual races and there was one race left. The relay – my coveted race. I grew up playing team sports, so when I can make a team event out of an individual one, I’m all for it. This particular relay, however, was not so coveted by our team. In fact, the entire team, save the wax techs and two athletes, stayed behind for the event while the others traveled on to the next world cup.

A relay in biathlon consists of a four-person team. Each person has two shooting stages, one prone and one standing, and skis a two-kilometer loop in between, and after six kilometers of racing, tags off to her teammate. The first problem was that we didn’t even have enough girls to finish the race. Our coach wanted the other girl to get an intensity workout out of the race, but she didn’t like to scramble (or start the race) so that’s where I fit in. I was volunteered to start the race that we wouldn’t finish.

Second problem … I had never scrambled or started a relay before. I was always the second or third or fourth leg. My twin sister, Lanny, was our go-to girl for scrambling and she was shoved in a van with all our gear heading across Italy on her way to Slovenia.

Scrambling is an interesting phenomenon and appropriately named. It’s messy, it’s ugly, it’s exciting. It’s a muddle of skis, poles and very sharp elbows. The relay is a matter of pride for every country and how you start the relay often reflects how your team will do in it.

Directly in front of me was Sweden. The race organizer signaled there was 30 seconds to start.

“Here we go,” I said to myself.

“15 seconds” yelled the organizer.

The countdown started in my head to anticipate the gunshot. Looking left, I saw the man raise his arm with the start pistol in his hand. I started to lean on my poles. The shot went off and with a flash I took off down the trail. The Swede was easy to catch and with a quick step, I went around her. I pushed hard on my poles for a couple of strides and then looked left. There wasn’t anyone there. I looked right. There wasn’t anyone there either. A smile spread across my face. I had a great start and was in the lead! If the race was a 100 meter, I’d have won it.

The problem was the race was 6,000 meters.

We got to the first hill and adrenaline was still pumping. A few girls passed me on the left, but I held my position well. We rounded a corner ski down a hill and charged into the next hill. I started to feel this funny numb sort of feeling, almost as if something was draining out of me. Then it hit me: the wall.

The adrenaline was gone and with no warm up. I’d gone out too hard and hit a wall. My body stiffened and refused to move fast any more. My breath became labored and my skis and poles both felt like 20-pound weights. Girls started to pass me left and right and I felt as if there was a rope tied around my waist and someone was pulling me backward. I was  in the back of the pack struggling to move.

The Barnes' twins are in this group somewhere, competing in Korea in the Biathlon.

I skied into the range in last place gasping for air. The wind was whipping and I looked at the range flags, unsure what to do. I started to shoot, missing all but one of my targets. I hit a couple with extra rounds, but had to ski the penalty loop, a 150-meter punishment for missing a target. Shamefully, I completed the penalty loops and was back on course.

That had to be the worst of it. Right? Think again.

I saw some girls up ahead and pushed hard to try to catch them. I crested the top of a hill and went into a tuck looking up the trail to see if I was gaining on the other teams. The next thing I knew I was on the ground sliding toward the fence. My ski had caught a rut and I had fallen. The fence stopped my fall, but then my rifle got tangled in it and I desparately tried to free myself. With the help of an Italian police officer, I untangled my rifle and got to my feet. This was about the time I noticed I had fallen to the bottom of the steepest hill on the course.

Normally the speed from the downhill will carry you partway up the hill, but I was at the bottom, with no speed at all. I struggled up the hill, battling it as though I were not moving at all. If that weren’t bad enough, my fall and subsequent struggle up the hill were live on Eurosport (the ESPN of European TV).

I made it up the hill and into standing, salvaged a clean stage (hitting all five targets), and made it to the finish line to tag to my teammate. To add insult to injury, my little blunder managed to make it onto Watts, the sports blooper show for Eurosport (a show I typically enjoy watching).

This moment was one of my top embarrassing ones, but the very next weekend at the world cup in Slovenia, I pulled myself out of the snow, dusted myself off and skied and shot my way to my best World Cup finish. Moral of this one …  never get down on yourself (even if Bozo the clown and a half a million Euros are laughing at you).

Lanny’s turn

United States biathlete twins Lanny, right, and Tracy Barnes pose on the shooting range during a training session on the biathlon course in Cesana San Sicario, Italy, at the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic

One of Lanny’s most embarrassing moments came archery elk hunting two years ago.  We had been hunting hard for a week and had seen bull after bull. With cows out-numbering bulls 30-1, we were surprised to see so many bulls. The weather was warm and the bulls were wallowing.

Lanny had found herself in the back of a really deep, dark canyon. The terrain was extremely steep and was perfect for elk in such hot weather. She had found a wallow that a bull had been in earlier in the day. She decided to make a blind and sit on the wallow in hopes the bull would return. After waiting an hour or so, she started to get really tired. We’d been getting up about 4 every morning, hiking all day and getting to bed at around 10 p.m. We were exhausted.

So, after sitting there awhile Lanny decided to take a little nap. She leaned against a tree and closed her eyes. Time passed and Lanny dozed off. She was dreaming of something and this noise kept showing up in her dream, she couldn’t figure out what it was, it sounded like a kid splashing around in a pool. Something was off, she thought. Water, splashing… that thought jolted her awake. She opened her eyes and looked toward the wallow. Sure enough there was a bull splashing around in the mud and water.

She slowly grabbed her bow. The bull was preoccupied with the rolling around in the mud, so Lanny took aim and drew her bow. She aimed at the sweet spot and released the arrow. Thwunk! The arrow made a loud noise and the bull’s head shot up.

Lanny looked in desperation as her arrow pierced the mud right below the bull. In a flash of mud and water the bull was up and running away. Lanny stared in hopelessness as the bull disappeared down the ridge. She’d missed, and she’d missed big. The bull was close, the shot was perfect. Frustrated and demoralized, she dragged herself into camp that night to tell me the story.

Determined, she turned the headlights on in the truck and lit up our practice target.  She took out her arrows and started shooting. She hit bullseye after bullseye. In the end, she knew she could make the shot. Moral of this one … Things don’t always go as planned. The shot can be perfect, the chance ideal. But mistakes happen. So, she didn’t give up, she found determination out of discouragement and kept trying.

In any path to greatness, sometimes you try too hard and in doing so you make mistakes. It happens to everyone and while we get frustrated that we missed that perfect, broad-side shot at that big buck, or we missed that clay pigeon by a mile. We pick our heads up and try again, because nobody achieves perfection without a little bit of imperfection first.

So, if you find yourself making a mistake or having an embarrassing moment, don’t throw down that bow or that gun. Take a deep breath, picture Bozo the clown, have a good laugh and then knock another arrow or load another shell … there will always be another chance at glory, another chance at success.

People often ask me what it’s like to be in the Olympics or what it’s like to compete in them. Lots of things pop into my head when I’m asked this, lots of words- excitement, adrenaline, nervousness, joy, pain, honor, country, family, go…. Go faster…. “Lanny GO”! Suddenly I’m brought back to a familiar place, a place that has been in my rehearsed thoughts for four years leading up to the Olympics. I look right and see a blur of red, white, and blue. Someone is yelling my name. It’s almost inaudible at first, everything sounds fuzzy. The only thing that is clear to me is my breathing, and my lungs are expanding and contracting at a blistering rate. I don’t feel anything, but I’m moving and moving fast.  There’s nothing but silence, almost peaceful in a way. I’m in an empty void. I’m in a place where every athletes mind goes on occasion when you are too tired to think and the pain is almost too much to bear. You can see it on an athlete’s face when they go to that empty void, their eyes glass over and that grimace that was spread across their face is now replaced with an emotionless stare. It’s a quiet place, its peaceful, but I don’t want to be here. And with that thought it hits me… bam! Like a wave crashing down and it sets in… reality.

My ears are overwhelmed with sounds, people screaming and cheering, whistles, horns, the sound of my labored breathing, my heart pounding against my chest, my skis gliding across the snow. My senses are back, and with it the pain I was trying to avoid by going to that empty void. But I welcome it. It lets me know how hard I’m going and if I can push harder. Here in this mind set, in reality, I’m racing. In this mind set you think about a lot to get your mind off the fact that it hurts. You focus on the ski technique, reach with the arms, good weight shift, push with the legs. Right now I’m charging up a hill heading into my final shooting stage at the Individual Race at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. There are four shooting stages in this race, 2 prone and 2 standing and a grueling 3 kilometer loop in between each shooting bout. Each shooting stage consists of 5 shots with a minute added on to your time for each miss. I’ve hit 15 for 15 so far and have 5 shots left. I’m skiing well and am having a great race. There are 87 women all vying for a gold medal and I’m one of them. With a clean shooting in the last stage I’ll be near the top. 

 No pressure I think to myself as I ski up and over the final hill in to the shooting range. At this point my mind does a 180. I’m no longer a skier; I’m a shooter on skis.  I’m now in my comfort zone. I grew up shooting and in it my confidence lies.  It’s a funny thing, but I woke up that morning knowing that I was going to clean the race, and as I’m heading into the final shooting stage of the race I’m not thinking about the fact that there’s a lot of pressure on me, that one miss will move me 20 places back and 2 misses will put me out of the race. I’m actually thinking “man I love this”. Biathlon is the ultimate sport for me. Fast paced, head to head, action packed shooting combined with the adrenaline pumping thrill of physical chase. I ski into the range, stop at a shooting point, sling my rifle off my back and get into position. I repeat a few words in my head and my whole body relaxes. These words are simple and I practice them so many times during the year that I find myself subconsciously repeating them when I go to sleep at night. They are trigger words that help my body to relax. Just repeating them in my head allows my body to relax, even when my heart rate is pounding over 180 beats per minute. So, with my body relaxed I quickly fire off 5 shots and throw my gun on my back and push off out of the range with a smile on my face. I’ve cleaned the race, but I know that the hard part is yet to come. The last loop is the hardest and I will be asking myself to go harder and faster than I’ve ever gone before.

I push out of the range and up over the first hill. Some of our staff was on the first hill and they run beside me yelling and giving me splits (telling me in what position I’m in and how many seconds there are between me and the next competitor).  I then push hard over the hill and get in a tuck. I immediately look left as I’ve done every loop because there, running beside the track with American flags draped over their shoulders are my sisters Tracy and Christie. They are running alongside me and cheering me on. This to me is one of the best parts of the race, it reminds me that I’m doing it for them and for all the other people I represent in this great country. I see that flag and my sisters sprinting alongside and it gives me energy. I smile briefly at them and give them a wave and like that I’m powering up the next hill pushing with everything I’ve got. 

 I’m skiing alongside a Norwegian and matching her stride for stride. Normally this Norwegian out-skis me on the tracks, but not today. Today I’m racing an inspired race. And I push hard on towards the finish. People are lining the course and cheering in every language. The best part about the Olympics is that everyone cheers for everyone, not just the favorites, or their own country, but they cheer for everybody. My mind tries hard to focus but it’s difficult. Tiredness sets in and my mind wants to go to that empty happy place. But I consciously open my eyes wider, because I don’t want to miss this. This is an opportunity like non-other and I’m not about to miss it.  The finish gets closer and the Norwegian and I are racing hard. 1 kilometer to go... 500 meters… 100 meters. I reach forward with my ski as far as I can, knowing that each second could mean a place. I collapse at the line exhausted. I try desperately to get my breathing under control. I get up and look at the score board and see that I’ve won. I haven’t won the race, but I’ve won my own personal race. Until today I have never cleaned (hit all 20 shots) in a 4 stage race before. I did that today and skied faster than I had all year. I got 23^rd place the best finish for an American female in 16 years. I didn’t get gold today, but I’m happy knowing that I’m one step closer and I smile knowing that in four years I will be skiing faster and hopefully be bringing home gold for USA!!

The Women's Outdoor Media Association launched a blog today on thier website called the Road to Russia the will capture our journey as we train for the next Olympics in Russia in 2014. We will also give training tips, stories of our travels around the US and abroad, biathlon and hunting adventures, and many other exciting accounts along the way. Check out their website www.thewoma.com and click on Road to Russia or follow the link to see the story- http://thewoma.com/category/the-road-to-russia/. The WOMA has some of the coolest women and men members that are involved in shooting sports and the shooting industry. Check out their website to meet some of these amazing women.

New column by twin biathletes

Olympic biathletes Lanny and Tracy Barnes recently joined the Women’s Outdoor Media Association. Through their blog at their website, http://twinbiathletes.com/default.aspx, the sisters take us on their journey as they train for their next Olympics in Russia 2014. The women will contribute their tips on training, their road trip stories and adventures, along with insights along the way to our readers. We welcome them and look forward to reading about their lifestyles. ~ Editors

Tracy and Lanny and a mouse.

My sister, Lanny Barnes, and I began shooting and hunting at a very young age. We started out with little bows and suction-cup arrows and then graduated to a small compound bow. We would set up cans and bottles and practice for hours. Later we started shooting a pellet gun and our dad would give us a quarter for every time we hit a bull’s-eye.

When Dad started running out of quarters, he signed us up at the local shooting club where we learned .22-position shooting and competed in New Mexico and Colorado State prone competitions. At one of the competitions, we met a guy by the name of Tim Conrad who was working with the biathlon team with their shooting. He saw us juggling a soccer ball and running around between bouts of shooting and suggested we might try the sport of biathlon, seeing as though we were a bit too hyperactive for prone shooting.

Lanny at Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Biathlon sounded like our kind sport – with a combination of fasted paced, head-to head shooting and aggressive, heart-pounding skiing. The only thing we needed to learn was how to cross country ski. We grew up downhill skiing, but the only thing we knew of going uphill on skis was to get on the chair lift and ride it to the top. So we signed up for Nordic skiing and after a year, we were hooked. As far as we know, we are literately the only biathletes who came into the sport with a shooting background and then learned how to ski. Most biathletes are skiers first who learn to shoot.

Now, 11 years later we have competed in two Olympics and hold countless national titles. This past winter, Lanny had the best Olympic finish by an American woman in 16 years. Our goal now is to compete in the Olympics in four years and to make history competing in them. The average age of an Olympic medalist in the sport of biathlon in the past two years is 32; we will be 31 when we compete again. We believe we can make history by becoming the first women to medal at an Olympics in biathlon for the U.S.

Tracy Barnes

Having just come off an Olympics in Vancouver this year, we get asked by many people how we will prepare for the next Olympics. First of all, the Olympics will be held in Sochi, Russia, in 2014.

Does it seem like a long four years away? More like a short span to get in the best shape of our lives so that we are shooting and skiing with the best in the world.

What does that take? Lots and lots of training and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Training for the Olympics is an everyday, lifetime commitment. We didn’t just start training for the 2014 Olympics this spring; we started years ago when we began to compete for biathlon on a competitive level. Every year an athlete trains for an endurance sport, she builds a base that makes her stronger. It’s like putting money in the bank for later and the Barnes’ twins hope to make a huge withdrawal in 2014.

We attribute our family, along with friends, sponsors and fans to our success. You may follow us on our journey not only here at this column, Road to Russia, but also at our website. ~Tracy Barnes

HAVRE — Olympic Biathlete Lanny Barnes accepted an invitation from Havre businesswoman Renelle Braaten, president of Enell Inc. to visit.

Barnes will visit the Havre Gun Club, speak about her Olympic experience at the Havre Boys and Girls Club and will be available to meet the general public and sign autographs in Havre at Enell Inc. headquarters and in Great Falls this week.

Barnes represented the United States in the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, and again in 2010 at the Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. She finished the women's 15 kilometer Individual race in 23rd place, the best finish in 16 years by any U.S. female biathlete. She also is a member of the U.S. Nation Champion Team, and World Champion Team at both the junior and senior levels.

Barnes said she wears the Enell Sports Bra, designed to enable well-endowed women to exercise and train in greater comfort.

Barnes' schedule:

Reach Tribune Business Editor Jo Dee Black at jblack@greatfallstribune.com, or at 791-6502 or 800-438-6600.

Last weekend Tracy and I flew out to Charlotte, NC to spend some time with Otis Technology in their booth at the NRA Convention and Gun Show (www.otistec.com). We signed autographs, shot a commercial, and had a blast with the Otis crew. Not only do they make the best gun cleaning supplies on the planet, but they are really great people and are super fun to hang out with. We also spent a few hours with Kim Rhodes and witnessed her shooting her shotgun. She is definitely the best in the world, male or female in what she does. Matt Hughes the 9-time UFC champion was there as well signing autographs at the Otis booth. Check out the Otis website, they have some great new products and the best cleaning supplies on the planet, www.otistec.com.

 At the convention, we had the privilege of meeting with Deb Ferns and her family from The Women’s Outdoor Media Association (WOMA) and Babes with Bullets. She is an amazing person and is doing some wonderful things for women and women shooters, hunters, ect. Please visit her websites www.TheWOMA.com  and www.babeswithbullets.com.  Also, when we attended the WOMA reception, we met a really wonderful woman named Kim Pezzeminti from DoeVille (see picture in picture gallery). She loved my bullet earrings so much, she is going to put them up for sale on her website, so check that out soon, www.doeville.com.

We also spent a little time with Bushmaster, who had WEC fighter Mike Brown signing autographs in their booth. Bushmaster has some really cool new guns, check them out at www.bushmaster.com.

One of the most popular celebrities there was “The Gunny” R. Lee Ermey who is a retired US Marines Corps drill instructor and Golden Globe nominated actor. He acted in films like Full Metal Jacket, Prefontaine, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and many more.  Barb from Otis helped us get a private autograph signing with him. It was an awesome weekend. We met a lot of really cool people and saw a lot of cool guns and outdoor products.

When we got back we met up with the crew from the Durango Performance Center including Dr. Andrea awesome cardiologist and physiologist as well as coach Rick Crawford who has coached many national and world champions in road and mountain biking including Lance Armstrong,  Levi Leipheimer, Tom Danielson, & Chris Wherry. We are hopefully going to work with them throughout the year on our training, testing, and monitoring of our training and racing. They are a very professional group and will definately help us make that next jump in our training and racing to compete with the best in the world. They threw Tracy on the treadmill and conducted a VOMax test for her, in a few weeks, I will hop on the treadmill for my shot at the test. Check them out at www.durangoperformancecenter.com.

 This weekend Tracy heads to Maine to celebrate her 2^nd wedding anniversary with her husband and I go to Havre, Montana to visit Enell. While I’m there, I will visit with the local gun club, talk to the boys and girls club, and check out some really cool places in that area. I’m also really excited to see the people who make the best and most supportive sports bra’s ever. If like to check out their sports bras, go to www.enell.com.

The 2009/2010 Season had many highlights and as always a few learning experiences. Lanny made the 2010 Olympic team and competed in Vancouver for the US Biathlon Team. There, she had the best US women’s finish in 16 years with a 23^rd place in the Individual and was the fastest and best shooter of the day in that race. Lanny also competed in the prestigious Schalke Biathlon World Team challenge over Christmas with Team mate Jay Hakinen and with an impressive comback finished 6th place. Tracy was the 2010 US and North American Champion in the Sprint and Pursuit and was runner up in the Mass Start race.

There have been so many that have helped us over the years to get to this point. We would like to Thank everyone involved and would like to recognize these companies for their wonderful support and the following people for being with us along the way. Thank You Otis Technology, makes of the best gun cleaning products on earth- www.otisgun.com. Thank You Sinus Buster for helping us breathe easier and fight off headaches and allergies- www.sinusbuster.com. Thank You Enell Sports Bras, the best supporting Sports Bra on the market- www.enell.com. Thank You Sinus Buster, for helping us ski faster without the lactic acid burn- www.sportlegs.com. Thank You Atomic for the fastest skis in the world- www.atomicsnow.com.   Thank You Brunton for helping us get the best zero with our rifles because of your amazing scopes- www.brunton.com. Thank You Northern Outfitters for keeping us warm with world’s best cold weather clothing www.northernoutfitters.com. Thank you Danalco/Sealskinz for protecting our hands and feet with your water proof socks and gloves- www.danalco.com.  Thank you Elete for keeping our muscles from cramping with your electrolyte supplement- www.eletewater.com. Thank You Adventure Medical Kits for patching us up in our adventures- www.adventuremedicalkits.com.  Thank you High maintenance Camo for the plane ticket and outfitting us on our hunts- www.highmaintenacecamo.net.

Also we would like to give a special Thank You to these people for their support- Mom & Dad, Christie, Gary, Buddy, Steve & Nadine, Angie, Terra & Jeff, Travis & Jenifer, Bernie,  Aunt Sue, Morgan, Emilia,  BethAnn, Katy, Kelly, Jason, Walt, Denise, Haley, Ron Klatt, Dr. John Piccaro, Wendy Wagner, Durango Nordic Club, Durango, Gun Club, AP Small, Emily Jones, Wayne Perry, John Peel, The entire Kaicher Family, Kay Neal, Nancy & Jim Federico, Rick Halling, Dave & Connie Trautman, Cheryl Deresky, Pat Roach, The Harter Family, Marcella Stockton, Vicki Sween, Judy O’Neal, The Mayo Family, Dave Cole, Dietmar Neubert, James Storin, Viktoria, JD Fequay, John Wade, The Ott Family, Lynd Jeter, Maria Olivera, Mr. J, Sarah Konrad, Steve Selph, Nina Kaputa, Cara Tankersly, Mrs. Silvia’s Second Grade in Lakeside, City of Durango, Ellen Knobe, Fuyoko Suzuki, Durango PEO Chapter, Divia Bali, Angie Begg, Ann Norris, Pat & Betty Boileau, & the hundreds of others that have helped along the way. We would also like to Thanks the US Biathlon coaches and staff for their support and help.

 From here, we both plan on continuing to the next Olympics in 2014 in Sochi, Russia where we hope to become the first women to medal in the Olympics for the sport of biathlon. We will entering the prime age for biathletes in the next four years as endurance sports athletes reach their physiological peak in their later 20’s early 30’s. It should be an exciting four years. Thanks again for your support and check back often for more updates and stories on our training, racing, and progress.

Today I headed out east to meet up with all the 2010 Olympians and Paralympians to visit the White House and meet the President and Vice President. Both Tracy and I went four years ago when Bush was President and had a blast getting together again with all the 2006 Olympians for one last time. Once I arrived, we checked into our hotel in Baltimore (DC hotel were sold out) and the Olympians got together for a tailgating party at the Baltimore Orials Stadium. It was nice to catch up with all the biathletes as I hadn’t seen them for about a month. 

The next morning, the Olympians split up in groups according to their State and went to Capitol Hill for a tour and a meeting with their Colorado Senators. The visit was hosted by Senator Mark Udall. We met in his office with other Colorado Olympians and Paralympians like Ryan St. Onge, Sara Schleper,  Hannah Pennington, & Katie Uhlender. We discussed sports and issues in Colorado as well as attempted to convince the Senators to try ski jumping, biathlon, and luge.

After the meeting with the Senators, we went to the White House, where we got a tour and waited to shake hands with the President. Luckily for us, it was raining all day and they canceled the outdoor ceremony that they had planned. Originally all the Olympians and Paralympians would stand in bleachers while the President gave a speech shook a few athletes’ hands and then left. Now that they couldn’t host the event outside, we were all escorted to separate rooms in the White House according to our sport and waited to get individual team pictures with the Vice President and his wife, as well as the President and first Lady.

We were situated in the Green Room, waited and joked about what we’d say to the President once he came in. The biathletes with me were Lowell Bailey, Jeremy Teela, Tim Burke, Wynn Roberts, Haley Johnson, Laura Spector, & Sara Studabaker. The Vice President and his wife, were the first to show up. They came in the room, shook everyone’s hand and preceded to ask everyone where they were from. Once the Vice President came to me, he told me I had really amazing eyes and that I should call and thank my mother for them after the visit and tell her the Vice President said I had beautiful eyes.

Once he left and the jokes and laughs subsided about the beautiful eye comment from my fellow teammates , the President and First Lady showed up. The First Lady gave everyone a hug, while the President shook everyone’s hand and asked why and how biathlon was started. After a quick explanation about biathlon deriving from the Scandinavian countries as a form of hunting on skis, then becoming a military warfare tactic, then a competition between nations militaries, and finally an Olympic sport; we took a picture and finished our White House visit.

When we left the White House, we went to the Supreme Court for a dinner and meet and greet with some of Washington’s politicians, Supreme Court Justices, and Corporate leaders. The dinner rounded out our trip to Washington and we flew back home the next day. They will send us pictures with the President and Vice President, once we receive them, I'll put them up online.

Barnes is normally a very accurate shooter, and Sunday was no different. In her first round, she still put all her bullets in a tight cluster—it just happened to be low, to the right, and off the target.

After missing 4 shots and skiing her four penalty loops she got a correction from her coach, then she proceeded to reel off 15 of 15 hits in a row in her last 3 shooting stages . But the damage was done: Instead of leading the race, Barnes was now struggling to get back into it. Leaving the range after the first shooting, Tracy was in last place, but with some determination and some good shooting, she was managed to squeeze into second place coming into the last standing. From there, she was able to knock all her targets down and take the lead in the race over Susan Dunklee. The two battled it out on the last loop and in a sprint to the finish Dunklee came out ahead by 2 tenths of a second over Barnes.

Awesome Job Susan!!!

     Tracy Barnes (1-1-2-2) made it two for two winning the Women's Pursuit in spite of an uncharacteristically tough time in the range. Canadian Claude Godbout (0-2-1-1) took the Silver. In a race to the line, Annelies Cook (0-0-2-3) took the Silver from Kat Howe. 

     The women’s race came down to a two-person duel, between Barnes and Claude Godbout, a 23-year-old Canadian who skis for the country’s national development team. Barnes clean shooting was enough to put her seven seconds ahead of Godbout, who had one penalty in the standing stage.

      While there’s no money to be won at the races here, Barnes did actually have more on the line today than just bragging rights. She said she has a bet with her twin sister Lanny, who’s currently competing in Europe, about who will miss fewer targets over the last races of the season. The competition is called “don’t waste a bullet,” Barnes said, and the loser has to buy ammunition for the fall elk hunt. Lanny put the pressure on by shooting well at the Olympics (impressively, she hit all 20 targets in the 15k individual race). But now Tracy is firing back. “It will be tough [to win the bet], but it motivates both of us,” she said.

Written by: Viktoria Franke March 11, 2010

           Closing ceremonies came on the night of the 31st. We took the long bus trip down to Vancouver and arrived at the athlete’s village in the early afternoon to catch the last part of the US/Canada gold medal hockey match. It was a very exciting game and probably could've gone either way. After watching the game we put on our closing ceremonies outfits (see pictures page) and walked around the athletes village checking out what other countries were going to be wearing to the ceremonies. The Americans probably had the most popular outfits as we were stopped by quite a few people who wanted to take pictures of our clothing. I definitely felt like we stood out amongst the other countries who mainly had winter jackets and snow pants while we looked like we should be heading to a polo match or hiking in the Italian alps.

      They bussed us to the stadium and we navigated through the lower passage ways of the stadium and waited for our command to enter the stadium. Closing ceremonies are unique because all the athletes walk in together from all the different countries instead of just walking each country behind their flag. While we waited, we traded pins, played soccer, and joked with athletes from all different countries. Once we got the ok to enter the stadium we broke out into a short sprint and ran into the stadium. It only lasted about 30 meters then we all stopped and started to take in the scene and wave to people in the crowds that were screaming USA or cheering for their home countries. We marched around the stadium  a few times, then took our seats to find props and presents from the organizing committee and Russia. My favorite part was when Neil Young came out and sang "Long May You Run" and they extinguished the flame. It signaled the end of one adventure, but also the beginning of another.

      After the ceremonies, we headed back to the athletes village to eat dinner and head to an athlete’s party that was hosted by the Canadians. We didn't have a room or bed that night down in Vancouver as the athletes village was already full from the athletes staying there and all the hotels in Vancouver were booked. We were told we'd just have to pull and all-nighter and enjoy Vancouver's night life before we boarded our bus to the airport. I was supposed to leave the athletes village at 2am for a 6am flight. They expected huge crowds at the airport and wanted to get us there extra early to make sure we got on the plane. So after a fun and exciting night and not a lot of sleep, I boarded the plan and headed home for a week before I head back onto a plane and over to Europe for two more world cups in Finland and Norway.

Americans finish 17th in 4x6-km biathlon Tuesday

Photo by Franck Fife/AFP

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So is her twin sister, Tracy.

Lanny Barnes, Durango native and member of the current U.S. Olympic Team, concluded her competitive assignments Tuesday at the Vancouver Winter Games when she competed in the biathlon relay.

The U.S. relay team, racing on soft snow, struggled in the difficult conditions on a cloudy, overcast and warm day. The Americans finished 17th in the 4x6-kilometer relay that was won by Russia.

France finished second and Germany third.

Immediately after the competition, Lanny Barnes and her sister set their sights on the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Tracy Barnes just missed making the 2010 Olympic squad after competing for the United States in Torino, Italy, in 2006.

“Tracy and I are going for another Olympics … 2014," Lanny Barnes said in a telephone interview Tuesday night from Vancouver. “Hopefully, we can win some medals there."

Barnes said she and her sister decided to dedicate their lives to biathlon and shoot for another Olympic experience in four years.

While Tuesday's team finish was somewhat disappointing, Barnes said the U.S. team gave a solid performance against the best biathlon teams in the world.

“We were able to maintain contact early. Sara (Studebaker) had a great leg scrambling from the start," Barnes said of her teammate from Boise, Idaho.

“We had goals of finishing higher. But we were pleased with the … team effort," said the 27-year-old.

Barnes said the skies stayed cloudy Monday night, keeping the temperatures up and making the snow extremely soft.

“It was a tough day (for skiing)," Barnes said.

“It didn't get as cold as it had been, and it didn't freeze (Monday) night," she said. “The snow was super deep … sugar snow.

“It really was pretty brutal out there. But it was only a 6K leg.

“Conditions like that definitely put an emphasis on the shooting," said Barnes, who was competing in her second Olympic games.

The Russians took advantage, moving into a huge lead on the third leg of the four-member relay.

Olga Medvedtseva practically guaranteed the win for the Russians after her quick shooting gave teammate Olga Zaitseva a 45-second head start on German rival Andrea Henkel at the final exchange.

Zaitseva had plenty of time on the final straightaway to enjoy the victory, slowing down and blowing kisses to the crowd as she entered the ski stadium.

The Russian team, which included Svetlana Sleptsova and Anna Bogaliy-Titovets, finished the 4x6K race in 1 hour, 9 minutes, 36.3 seconds.

The French quartet of Marie Laure Brunet, Sylvie Becaert, Marie Dorin and Sandrine Bailly took the silver after finishing 32.8 seconds behind.

The German team of Kati Wilhelm, Simone Hauswald, Martina Beck and Henkel earned bronze, 37.1 seconds back.

Zaitseva and Bogaliy-Titovets were part of the Russian team that won the same event in Torino four years ago.

The Americans finished in 1:15:47.5.

In the relay format, the skiers can shoot eight times at the five targets at each position.

Only five bullets can be loaded at a time, so skiers will lose time reloading if they miss. After using all eight rounds, the competitor must ski a 150-meter penalty loop for each remaining target.

The U.S. team included Hayley Johnson of Lake Placid, N.Y., and Laura Spector of Lenox, Mass.

“It was another learning experience," said Barnes, who finished 23rd in the 15-kilometer individual biathlon Thursday - the highest finish for an American woman since the 1994 Winter Games.

“And it was fun to rumble with those teams," said Barnes, the daughter of Thad and Deb Barnes of Durango.

“The relay is my favorite event. I love team sports. Growing up in Durango, playing soccer … I love team sports," she said.

“I'd like to thank everyone in Durango. It's been amazing the support I've gotten from them … the e-mails, the phone calls, everything.

“Now, I can't wait to get home," Barnes said.

dstrode@durangoherald.com The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Disappointed Barnes eager for her next race

Durango athlete 78th in 7.5K biathlon sprint

Barnes

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“It was great. This is the Olympics, and you really can't beat anything like this," said Barnes, 27. “But conditions seemed to get worse as the race went along. A lot more rain picked up, and that slows the snow down.

“But that's just the luck of draw," she said, explaining why she would have been faster with an early start for the event that has staggered start times.

Barnes - who finished third among the four women on the U.S. team in the race - added that for some reason, she just didn't have a lot of energy.

“Unfortunately, I didn't feel as good as I was hoping to (Saturday), just a little off physically. I'm not sure why. It's just one of those things in biathlon," she said. “Biathlon, day to day, you never know what it's going to be like once you step out there, whether the skiing is going to be on, the shooting is going to be on - you just hope for a good combination of the two."

What made the experience particularly challenging for her, she said, was not having her twin sister, Tracy, there competing with her. Tracy just missed out on making the U.S. Olympic team. Both twins competed in Torino, Italy, in 2006.

“We made a pact that I would do my best for Team USA and do my best to represent her well," Lanny Barnes said. “I talked to her this morning for a long time, and she's super-inspiring to me and very motivating, and it's just great talking to her.

“She flies in (today). I'm really looking forward to her being here for the rest of the races. She's not only my teammate and best friend, but she's also kind of my coach. She kind of gives me advice and tells me how to take the race," she said, adding it was exciting to have her parents on hand because she could hear them cheering her on.

The race was the 7.5-kilometer sprint. Competitors ski three laps on a 2.5-kilometer course. The biathletes shoot a number of shots after each lap. For each miss, a penalty loop of 150 meters must be skied before the race can be continued. Barnes missed one target.

To qualify for the next race, the 10-kilometer pursuit Tuesday, Barnes needed to finish in the top 60 Saturday. It means her next race will be the 15-kilometer individual Thursday. She also will compete in the team relay.

“I just need to recover from this and get ready for Thursday. I'm really looking forward to the individual. … That's my best event, my specialty," she said.

Until then, Barnes said, she'll spend time with her family and get out and cheer for her fellow Americans - especially the men's biathlon team - while taking care of her nutrition and sleep.

Parents Thad and Debbie Barnes of Durango are in Canada to support their daughter at the 2010 Games.

There was a lot of talk at the biathlon venue that the course is easy, which some suggest may be a disadvantage for Barnes, who generally is known to be stronger on tougher courses. But she said she won't use that as an excuse because course set-ups are not as important as some people think.

“It's the Olympics, and everyone here is at such a high level, and it's always going to be hard no matter what the course is like," she said. “If it's flat, everyone's going hard on the flats. If it's hilly, everyone's going to be going hard on the hills."

As for her life at the Games away from competition, she said she'll continue to soak in as much of the Olympic vibe as she can in the Athletes Village and in Whistler.

She said the “processing" experience - of getting her uniform and all kinds of other goodies - was a real treat last week.

The best part of her experience so far, she said, was the support she's been getting from back home.

“I've been receiving a lot of letters from people back in Durango - and little banners and notes and words of inspiration," Barnes said. “It definitely makes a difference. I just went out there to do my best for them." 

2/11/10- Update from Whistler Olympic Village-

Lanny Barnes makes Olympic Games

Twin sister Tracy narrowly misses spot

After U.S. team qualifying races last week, held in conjunction with an International Biathlon Union Cup event in Germany, the U.S Biathlon Association picked five men and four women to compete in the games, to be held Feb. 12-28 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Lanny Barnes' twin sister, Tracy Barnes, was narrowly edged out for the fourth women's spot.

Two races were held in Germany Jan. 7 and Saturday, and U.S. Biathlon used the results of those to pick its Olympians. A third race was scheduled for Sunday but was canceled because of thick fog, according to an e-mail from Thad Barnes, the twins' father.

Lanny Barnes was the first U.S. finisher in Saturday's 7.5-kilometer sprint event, placing 21st overall in the international field. That finish got her on the U.S. squad.

The other women on the team are Haley Johnson of Lake Placid, N.Y., Sara Studebaker of Boise, Idaho, and Laura Spector of Lennox, Mass.

Johnson qualified with a top-20 finish earlier this season in a World Cup race, and Studebaker qualified by winning the sprint time trial in the Jan. 7 race in Germany. Spector qualified on a “discretionary selection" by U.S. officials; she finished just ahead of Tracy Barnes in both races.

Both Lanny and Tracy Barnes made the 2006 biathlon team that competed in Torino, Italy. The twins are 27 years old and have been competing on a world level since their teens.

On the men's side, Tim Burke leads the U.S. biathletes into Vancouver. Other Olympians will be Jay Hakkinen of Kasilof, Alaska, who had two top-15 World Cup results last season; Jeremy Teela of Park City, Utah; Lowell Bailey of Lake Placid, N.Y.; and Wynn Roberts of Battle Lake, Minn.

heraldsports@durangoherald.com

11/16/09 Tannest Person in Sweden:

I boarded the plane in Quebec City, Canada and prepared for a long haul part way around the world. My trip would take me from Quebec to Montreal to Frankfurt, Germany then on to Sweden. A day and a half later I arrived in Osterdund without a single hiccup during travel and had all my bags. With the amount of traveling I've done, you just learn to expect missing bags, delayed or canceled flights, or really bad seats. When everything works out and travel goes smoothly, it's a real treat. I saw the sun for what might be a long while as my plane ducked down through two layers of clouds to get to Scandinavia. It is warm and wet here, but they have a great 4km loop of skiing that will work out perfectly until more snow arrives. It is just a strip of snow (see pictures below) that is set out in the woods and through the range, but at least they have skiing! The Swedes always do a great job at this venue and are hard workers. I'm sure it took a lot of work to get that snow spread out over 4km. I do have to say that I'm the tannest person in Sweden. Normally the Swedes come right up to me and talk to me in Swedish thinking I'm from there. With my blond hair and usually pasty skin form training in dark places I fit in pretty well. But they've pinned me for a foreigner right away because I have a little more color from my trip down to Florida recently. Anyway, training is going well and I'm excited to start racing soon. Check back later for more updates on training and the first World Cup of the season coming up on the 2nd of December.

Tracy and I have just started our training camp out in Utah. Almost the entire population of U.S. biathletes from youth, to juniors, to seniors, will be out here for three weeks training at the 2002 Olympic Venue in Heber City, Utah (15min south of Park City). We have already seen snow as we drove through a white out on our way out to Heber from our home in Durango. After that the snow continued for the next two days and only really accumulated up in the higher elevations. It was still nice to see snow as it get us even more motivated for the upcoming season. The first week of the camp is just finishing and we had a tough, but successful week. Next week we continue with some tough training, but have some exciting races at the end with and Individual on Saturday (17th) and a Sprint (19th). Tracy and I are both excited to see how our times compare and hopefully progressed from our times from these same races that we did periodically throughout the summer. Racing on the same venue throughout the year helps you to gauge your progress, ski speed and shape thoughout the year. We'll keep you posted on how the races go.

Lanny does photo shoot for Hot Head Hats & LipFusion to help benifit the non-profit Children With Wings-

    A few weeks pack Lanny volunteered to do a photo shoot for Hot Head Hats that would benifit Children with Wings. The photos and a written article can be seen in Allure magazine next month. Please check it out! Here are a few of the photo's from the shoot below-

 German National Championships Races in Altenberg, Germany-

Good Results for US Women at German Champs

Written By- Viktoria Franke - US Biathlon September 20, 2009

Photo: Viktoria Franke

Lanny Barnes in Altenberg

After spending two weeks of training in Italy, BethAnn Chamberlain, Lanny Barnes and Tracy Barnes arrived in Altenberg at the beginning of the week. “That stop just fit well in our plan and thanks to the competitions it’s not only a opportunity for us to see where we stand but also a chance to get to know the track better!” explains Tracy Barnes. In January, the US Olympic Trials will take part in Altenberg so it’s probably not the worst idea to spend some more training time at the training spot at the Czech boarder.

Strong Competition in Altenberg

Given the fact, that two amazingly hard weeks of altitude and snow training laid behind the women the three showed an incredible performance during the two races that took part this weekend. Being part of the German Championship the Sprint and Pursuit competitions hosted some of the world’s best biathletes such as Kati Wilhelm, Simone Hauswald or Magdalena Neuner.

“For us it was an incredible experience”, stated BethAnn Chamberlain after the races. “I am not completely satisfied with places 29 and 26 but I learned so much during those two days. And of course you can’t expect too much on the track at the end of our long training tour!”

The Barnes twins showed some good results in comparison with their German World Cup competitors. In the Sprint Tracy finished 13 and moved up on spot in the pursuit. Lanny did an even bigger step by advancing from 21^st place in the Sprint to 13^th in the Pursuit. “I was so shocked that Lanny suddenly was behind me! I couldn’t even believe it!”, laughed Tracy after the race. With only two penalties Lanny Barnes showed one of the best shooting results of the day. In the sprint on the other hand, Tracy was one of the three women that stayed clean at the range. “I really like it when there’s distraction while I am on the range. In Altenberg the spectators kept on cheering so it was never too silent when I was shooting.”

Perfect Way to End the European Trip

Though they showed some good results the girls were quite happy after they finished today’s competition. “We are all pretty tired. It’s been a long trip and I guess we never did that much skating within three weeks. And now the competition on that really hard track was just the perfect way to end the European tour”, stated Lanny Barnes while packing things for their leave back home.

The whole trip was an idea of the three training colleagues and friends. “We paid for it ourselves and planned it ourselves as well”, explains Chamberlain.

At tomorrow’s article you’ll learn more about what the three of them experienced during their trip through Italy and Germany. If you want to know why Italian kids can be intimidating, how a hike in the fog can scare even the toughest biathletes and how hard it is to make your way by just speaking English:  

Stay tuned!

Lot of New European Experiences For the Women

Viktoria Franke - US Biathlon September 22, 2009

In the Mountains

The European trip of BethAnn Chamberlain, Lanny and Tracy Barnes brought them from Munich to Bormio, Italy up to Altenberg, Germany. Some of their experiences are worth mentioning even if most of them took part not even close to the shooting range.

Getting Used to Italian Language, Food and People

When they think about their Italien experiences, all three of them have to laugh quite often. “I was literally standing there with a ‘Italian for Dummies’ book and trying to talk to them”, explains BethAnn. Lanny actually put this experience down on paper when she drew a cartoon about their three-week-trip. On it there’s also BethAnn’s husband Danny who is being watched by a small Italian kid while doing his workouts. “Actually it wasn’t just watching. The kid was basically staring at him and not saying a word!”, Tracy laughs.

Even if the kid would have said something, the girls are pretty sure that they would not have understood a word. None of the Italians spoke English, only the owner of the private house they were staying in was able to talk to them. “We actually had some great talks with him”, Lanny says. “He was a lot of fun but basically all the others – even the waiters – had real trouble when we tried to talk to them. Even with the ‘Italian for Dummies’ they weren’t able to have big conversations. That’s also how they ended up eating way too much every day. “We tried to tell the waiter that we had enough to eat already. But he was so offended by that, that we ended up eating even the dessert. It was huge … every single night!”

Lost in the mountains

Another thing they are trying to forget is that one hike in the mountains. “We saw that little house in the mountains from our windows and we thought we would just hike there one day”, starts BethAnn. Lanny remembers that day: “We couldn’t train because it was that foggy. So we figured we just go there. We thought we saw the path from our window and that it was easy. But after five hours of hiking we actually weren’t even close to the house!” Her sister just laughs and ends the story: “In the end we found our way back but somehow we were really glad that there was so much fog. We seriously didn’t want to see how deep down it went next to the path!”

 

Leaving the big mountains behind them and driving to Altenberg, they ended up in a middle-sized German village. “We arrived there and really just wanted to get some pizza because we figured that the normal stores were already closed.”, Tracy remembers After driving around for quite some time they figured: There won’t be any pizza at that night. “After all we ended up eating just some bad pasta and went to bed really unhappy”, they laugh.

 

Nevertheless. After all they ended up having a great time over in Europe. "But to go back home is always one of the nicest things about a trip like that". That's what all three of them are certain of.

 

Trip Day 1 & 2: Travel Days

Christie made us cookies for our trip! And lots of them. We could barely make it out the front door of her condo building without people asking where the party was and how they could get cookies too. We arrived at the airport at around noon and didn’t have any problems checking in. They didn’t even charge us for overweight bags which was a good thing as our ski bag was probably pushing 70 lbs. We boarded the plane in Burlington en-route to Washington D.C. and ended up spending an extra hour in the air circling before we landed in Syracuse, NY to re-fuel. There ended up being severe weather in D.C. They shut the airport down until it passed. So we waited on the plane as time ticked by and our 5:30pm flight to Munich came and went. We knew there was and 8:00pm flight, so as long as we got out soon we’d make it. Finally they cleared us to take off and we landed in D.C. to find a traffic jam of planes. Every plane it seemed was sitting somewhere on a runway or the tarmac waiting to take off. It was a mess. We then sprinted down to the Luftansa counter to see if we could get on the flight and the let us on, but the people behind us weren’t allowed on, so we really lucked out. As we got to our seats a flight attendant came down the aisle and proceeded to ask every male around us if they were sitting in seat 37C. That was my seat, so I showed her my ticket and she gave me a funny look and very skeptically asked if I had checked a “weapon” onto the flight. I said yes and so our rifles was cleared for the flight and that was that, we were on our way.

8 hours later…

We arrived in Munich and find BethAnn and Dave (teammates and our partners for the trip). We get the rental car and proceed to stuff 2 ski bags, 2 rifle cases, 4 duffels and a number of back packs and computer bags and 4 people into a car the size of a Subaru outback. We all had seat belts and the skis were secured on tight on the top so we were good to go. We next made our way down to the German town of Schlecking where our ski grinder, Muck, lives. There was lots of “stau”, German for traffic jams, on the way. We arrived in Schleching to find it time for siesta, meaning all the shops and restaurants were closed for several hours during the middle of the day so people can go home and take a nap, as Muck was doing. We were at his place to pick up some skis, ammo, and wax equipment.  Once that was loaded we got some very disapproving looks as to how we were traveling. Muck asked us over and over to check the skis in Innsbruck to make sure that they were still tight on top of the car and he laughed at us being so crammed into the car. 

3 hours later…

We made our way out of Germany through Austria, past Innsbruck, and into Italy. We always joke that Germany and Austria can be cloudy, but once you get into Italy it’s sunny and nice. Well today it was raining in Germany and cloudy in Austria and of course sunny in Italy. I think it comes with the culture. The Italians are so cheerful and laid back and it was apparent on our drive to Stelvio pass. We kept encountering road signs that would tell you how many kilometers it was to the pass, first it was 38 then 42, then 35, then 37. And we were supposedly getting closer. But with the Italians who cares how far it is, it’s about 37 kilometers, or so, you’ll get there, you’ll make it, in the mean time sip some cappuccino and enjoy life. It is that way with time as well. An Italian will tell you they’ll be there in 5 minutes (everything is 5 minutes by the way) and they could be there in 3 minutes or a half an hour, but that doesn’t matter. It’s only 5 minutes down the road (more like 2 hours) or they’ll open in 5 minutes (or tomorrow).  I love it. It’s such a different way of life and it’s so nonchalant. It’s quite relaxing at times.

So, we are made our way to Stelvio pass where we’ll be skiing on a glacier for 2 weeks. The road to get up to the top of the pass has 48 hair pin switchbacks. And there are signs to mark each one, counting them down from the bottom to the top. This section of road is famous as a stage in the Giro d’Italia bike race. A grueling climb… something we are extremely excited to bike. We’ll bike the pass next week! It’ll take anywhere from 2-3 hours of straight uphill climbing. It’ll be an epic bike for sure. The road itself is a little more than one and a half lanes and there are sections where you can look straight up and see the next corner and then the next one. At one point you come out of the trees and you can see the road up ahead snaking its way back and forth up to the top. The top of the pass is around 8,500 feet. Our hotel, the Thuni 3000, is at 3000 meters or just about 9,000 feet. The glacier where we’ll be skiing is close to 10,000 feet!

When we made it to the top of the pass we reached a village. A cluster of 3-4 hotels and a couple of shops and bars… not much at all. We started to look around for our hotel and couldn’t find it. We asked some of the locals and no one seemed to speak any English and our Italian is very poor if not completely non-existent. We finally managed to find out that our hotel was up the mountain further on a very steep, very windy 4WD road. The way to get there; take the gondola (which was closed) or call the hotel and they’ll come pick you up. So we opted for the later and 10 minutes later we were greeted by a banged up range rover hauling a small trailer. We then piled all of our duffels and ski bags into the trailer and hopped in the car. By now the sun had set and we’d be guided by the cars headlights. We left the paved parking lot and started up a narrow dirt road, but not before the driver put the car in 4WD. We then proceeded up the extremely steep bump road trying to hold on best we could while our bags jumped all over the trailer in the back. We were all very excited to finally make it to our destination. We had a late dinner and discussed how we each thought we wouldn’t be able to sleep that night because we were all so giddy. Stelvio pass is one of the most unbelievable places I have ever been. It is so breathtakingly beautiful and not just because the air is so thin at 9,000 feet.

Day 3: WWI Bunkers, Mountain Goats and some bad Italian

             Today we awoke to perfectly clear blue skies. You can see for miles and there are mountains in every direction. We talked with the groomers and got everything all set for skiing the next couple of days. We are the only ones here for a few days cross country skiing, so we’ll have the track to ourselves. There are hundreds of downhill ski racers, though. Italy, Austria and a few other countries are having training camps for downhill ski training up on the glacier.

            For training today we decided to go on a hike/run. From our hotel you can see trails in every direction. We are well above tree line so you can see where all the trails zig-zag all of the peaks surrounding us. It is an adventurers dream. We found a trail that we could see winding it’s way up to the peak and set out on it. We made it to the peak to find a very large cross on top. Most peaks in Italy have crosses on top of them. Then we cut down the back side of the peak to another peak, we proceeded to go from ridge-line to ridge line and peak to peak. Along the way we would run into old World War One bunkers made out of rock. They were amazing. They blended in so well and were built really well too. They were all along the tops of the peaks and the ridges and some bunkers that run the length of them too. We found out later that there are even tunnels that were built from the valley floor into the mountain and all the way up to the top. Pretty amazing how they built everything. We also ran into some local wildlife. We don’t often see any wildlife in Europe, so when we do it’s a real treat. We saw mountain sheep that were different from anything that we have in the states. Their body and face looked similar to that of a Big Horn Sheep, but their horns looked like that of a gazelle. The horns were really thick and quite big. It was really impressive to see them scale the sides of the mountains.

            After our hike we went to lunch and had an amazing meal of pasta and meat. The pasta is always cooked to perfection. During the meal BethAnn decided to try out some Italian on the waiters who speak very little English. She has been carrying around a phrase book and has bravely tried a few things out here and there. She tried to say “The food is really good” but whatever she was saying they didn’t like so well, so they told us a more correct phrase and we all got a good laugh at the attempted Italian.

            In the afternoon we ran down to the little village and checked out the venders who were selling all types of nick-nacks. The worst of them was a “whistle pig” or rock chuck stuffed animal that would whistle when you went by it. After a while the whistling got really annoying. We also made our way to a small museum which outlined the history of the region during the war and it’s famous stage of the Tour d’Italia.

Day 4: Palma-lifts, Glacier Skiing & Rally Car Roller-loops

            Today was our first day skiing on the glacier. We take the gondola up from our hotel to the base of the glacier. Then we take a palma-lift up midway up the downhill runs and then traverse the glacier to the back side where the Nordic trails are. Before the start of the day I knew this was going to be an adventure because just getting to the trails was going to be fun. I’d never been on a palma-lift before or what we like to call it- the “pummel lift”. For those Coloradans like myself who aren’t familiar with one it is a bar with a disk at the bottom with a retractable cord. The lift attendant grabs it and pulls it down and you place the disk between your legs and sit on it and it pulls you up the hill. When you get to the top you let go and it retracts back up to the overhead cable. It’s similar to a T-bar which I’d seen before, but nothing like a cushy chair lift I’m used to. We get up to the lift and put our skis on and I’m watching all these little kids grab the bar and then head off up the hill. Dave goes, then a small kid, then Lanny is up next in line. Lanny kept having to wait because the kid kept falling.  It began to make me nervous. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so easy after all. So Lanny was then handed her bar and was off. I’m hoping the lift attendant waits a bar in between Lanny and I so I can get my bearings, but he grabs it shoves it between my legs and says “huppa” with a smile. I’m then jerked forward and am speeding downhill… downhill? I thought the lift was supposed to go uphill. My skis are gaining some speed and I look up in time to see Lanny splayed out on the ground. The lift attendant is yelling at her to let go of the bar and come back to get another one, but she’s determined to hang on. She quickly gathers her things and stands up before she gets dragged. Then it’s my turn to go on my butt. I had gained so much speed that the cable is far behind me and when it reaches the end of the line it pulls me abruptly backwards. I definitely wasn’t ready for that. So, after a quick recovery I’m up on my feet again and moving forward. This time I’m vowing to not get ahead of my cable. I spent the rest of the ride up the hill laughing at myself, what a blast. Too bad no one got a picture of Lanny and I on the ground. We then got up to the point where we cut across to the cross country trails. There were a few downhill runs between us and the trails and we had to cross them. There were racing gates set up on some of the runs with downhill skiers flying through them at blazing speeds. We mistakenly made it to a section where we can’t see the top of the downhill run to see the skiers start and they can’t see us. We are just over a rise. What a stupid mistake that was. So, we wait and wait to go right after a skier, but they don’t come, so we decide to just go for it. I go first with BethAnn right behind me. She’s just a few feet behind me but a downhill skier goes between us. What a close call that was. We finally make it over to the cross country trails, thankful that our adventure is over and start our ski. The trails are awesome. They wind back and forth across the glacier and there is 5 kilometers in all. We finished our ski and decided to go look at the view on the other side of the mountain. We are right near the top and there is a short trail and bench. We walk up to the top and are greeted with a very humbling view. There is no other side of this mountain, it drops straight down. When you see something like that it makes you feel very small in the world. We then gathered our things and skied down the downhill run getting in a lot of downhill turns, it was a blast.

            In the afternoon we drove down to the town of Bormio. The drive to Bormio is on the other side of the pass we arrived on the previous day, but it is no less windy. There are a total 38 switch backs on this side of the pass and numerous tunnels that are very dark and only wide enough for one car. We were driving through one of them with about 4 ski club vans behind us and came head to head with a car going the other directions. It turned into a stand off. The vans behind us started to honk and wave for the car to back up, but the car seemed unwilling. They did manage to move over to the side of the tunnel as far as they could while scraping the paint off of their Audi and Dave very carefully maneuvered our rental past with only and inch on either side to spare. We’re not sure how the vans were going to make it past. Quite an interesting road. In Bormio we met up with Nickola, our local contact, who we’ll be staying with next week. His cousin owns the hotel we are staying at on the top of the mountain. He’s a very nice Italian with crushing hand shake. After meeting with him we made our way to the biathlon venue, which consists of 8 biathlon targets and about 10 kilometers of paved rollerskiing that was designed by an Italian Indy car driver. There are a few downhill turns which are quite frightening on rollerskis without brakes. The track is a rollercoaster for sure.

            After the Rollerski we drove up the 38 switch backs to the top of the pass. Since we were later than 5 o’clock, the gondola was closed and we had to hike with our guns and backpacks up to the hotel.

Day 5: Life on the mountain

We awoke to day to another beautiful sunny day. We made our way up to ski and found ourselves once again alone on the tracks. We thought the Norwegian National team would have made it up there today, but maybe tomorrow. We had a great ski and did a bunch of drills to work on balance and technique.

Day 6: Bormio’s 2 Biathlon Ranges

            Today we skied again in the morning and towards the end of our ski the Norwegians showed up. You could tell that it was their first day at altitude because they were skiing really slow around the tracks. Their coaches were also monitoring their lactic acid levels every couple of loops to make sure they weren’t going to hard. After a few hours of skiing we made our way back down which is a highlight of our ski everyday because the snow is softer and we can do downhill turns the entire way down the downhill runs, it’s temping not to rent a pair of downhill skis and give it a whirl, but we get in one good run on our Nordic skis each day. In the afternoon we were to meet Nickola, our local contact, and the club coach to get situated at the range. So we showed up early to the range and waited and waited and waited some more. When we thought they might not show we just started to shoot. Just about that time they arrived. It turns out that there are two biathlon ranges in Bormio, one that is 30 points and could host a world cup and the other, the one we were at, which is small, only 8 points, and a little ghetto. So, Nickola laughed that we were waiting for him and he was waiting for us and everyone was waiting for everyone. He then drove us over to the big range where DeLorenzi of the Italian National team was training. The local coach then gave us keys to the place and left us to our shooting workout. We had a great shooting workout with some wind and then it was time to head back up the mountain to Stelvio Pass. We once again missed the 5:00 tram back up to our hotel so we slung our pack and rifles on our backs and hiked up the hill to our hotel. Another great day in the mountains.

Day 7: Fog

The wind howled all night long! Being at 10,000 feet makes you highly susceptible to some pretty nasty weather and today demonstrated that. It was too foggy and windy for the tram to operate so the tram was shut down. We had planned a hike in the afternoon so we just moved that up to the morning. We were all very excited about this hike. We had been planning it ever since we had driven up Stelvio Pass the first time. Our destination was a hut way up on the side of this mountain. At first we didn’t even think there was any way to get there, but with careful studying of the mountains while going up and down the tram everyday we thought we’d seen a trail heading over that way. We didn’t want to take a high route because that would involve some serious rock climbing and some sketchy terrain. We figured a route down across the bottom of the glacial chute or rock slide, down into the trees (we are way above tree line up here) and back up to the hut. We couldn’t see our entire route and had no idea how long it would take, but it would be an adventure. We also debated on whether or not to drive down part of the pass to cut across to our destination or whether to hike down from the hotel which would leave us a long section on exposed rock. Our adventurous spirits won over and we all decided to hike from the hotel. It was raining off and on and really windy, so we packed a back pack with extra clothes, food, and some rope incase we had to rope up on some steep sections in the fog. We bundled up and headed out across the exposed mountain. At this point we were kind of in between the clouds. There was clouds above us and down towards the valley but not where we were currently, but we were quickly approaching the fog. From the start of the day we couldn’t see the hut we were set out to find and we knew that it would be difficult in the ever increasing fog to find out where exactly it was. We found a trail that looked like it was heading in the right direction. This trail was amazing. It took us over all types of different terrain, across creeks, through trees, exposed rock, avalanche chutes, narrow ridges, past high mountain free range cows (all of which wear large bells around their necks) and mountain goats. We hiked and we ran, and we scrambled, and we kept our feet moving for a very long time ever wondering where the hut was and thinking it might just be up around the next corner and then the next and maybe the next. I don’t think we ever got a true appreciation for this trail because the fog was so thick. I think we would have found that we were skirting the edge of a mountain, thousands of feet up above the valley. We could tell that we were up high and that there was a sheer drop to the side of us, but how high we couldn’t tell. The occasional falling rock from the trail would roll down and down, and down further disappearing into the fog.  It was so beautiful, the fog made it quite a unique experience. We eventually turned around without finding the hut. We had no idea if we’d gone to far or not far enough, or were we on the right trail. We are all very excited for the next clear day to see where we had gone and if we had passed the hut or not gone far enough. But what a hike! We ran back along the trail retracing our steps through the creeks, the trees, and past the cows. Then we had about a 2 hour uphill hike. The last section would be exposed to the wind and we were soaked to the bone, so before we got up there we made a change into warm clothes and then hiked up, and up and up until our hotel emerged out of the fog like a scene out of a movie. We were all cold, tired and exhausted after our 5 hour attempt to find the hut, still wondering where we had gone….

1 BARNES-COLLIANDER, Tracy USBA 10:05:00 2 1 3 0:22:15.0 00:00.0 101.47%

2 BARNES, Lanny USBA 10:05:30 0 2 2 0:22:29.6 00:14.6 100.39%

3 JOHNSON, Haley USBA 10:03:00 1 3 4 0:23:00.1 00:45.1 98.14%

4 BRAMANTE, Carolyn 10:02:30 2 0 2 0:23:08.0 00:53.0 97.56%

5 STUDEBAKER, Sarah USBA 10:00:30 3 0 3 0:23:24.8 01:09.8 96.32%

6 COOK, Anneleis USBA 10:02:00 2 0 2 0:23:27.3 01:12.3 96.13%

7 CHAMBERLAIN, BethAnn MWSC 10:06:30 3 3 6 0:24:44.2 02:29.2 90.46%

8 WYGANT, Jen USBA 10:06:00 4 2 6 0:25:01.3 02:46.3 89.19%

9 DUNKLEE, Susan USBA 10:01:30 1 2 3 0:25:30.7 03:15.7 87.02%

10 SPECTOR, Laura USBA 10:01:00 3 4 7 0:25:47.0 03:32.0 85.82%

11 W DREISSEGACKER, Hannah Collegiate Biathlon 10:07:00 4 3 7 0:26:09.7 03:54.7 84.15%

12 W HOWE, Katerina USBA 10:04:30 2 3 5 0:26:15.1 04:00.1 83.75%

13 W TOUSSAINT, Meagan MWSC 10:07:30 4 5 9 0:31:00.4 08:45.4 62.69%

Pursuit Race

1 BARNES-COLIANDER, Tracy USBA 2 1 1 1 5 0:33:13.4

2 BARNES, Lanny USBA 0 3 2 1 6 0:33:42.1

3 BRAMANTE, Carolyn USBA 2 1 1 2 6 0:35:12.9

4 JOHNSON, Haley USBA 3 1 2 4 10 0:35:23.7

5 STUDEBAKER, Sara USBA 3 3 3 0 9 0:36:08.4

6 COOK, Anneleis USBA 0 1 3 2 6 0:36:15.9 

7 SPECTOR, Laura USBA 0 2 2 1 5 0:36:16.4

8 DUNKLEE, Susan USBA 3 2 2 3 10 0:37:41.1

9 WYGANT, Jen DevTeam 1 4 1 2 8 0:37:42.1

10 CHAMBERLIN, BethAnn MWSC 2 2 2 2 8 0:38:45.1

11  HOWE, Katerina Dev Team 3 2 2 2 9 0:39:55.3

12 MCNAMCE, Hillary MWSC 0 0 1 2 3 0:40:01.6

13 DREISSEGACKER, Hannah Collegiate Biathlon 4 3 4 3 14 0:40:51.9

We recently kicked off the training season with our first official training camp of the year held in Lake Placid, New York and Fort Kent, Maine. The camp is three weeks long with a high amount of training in each week. Each week consists of 20 plus hours. The goal is to boost the level of fitness. Usually by the end of a 3 “high” week block you are extremely exhausted and need a good recovery week to follow. Our first week in Lake Placid consisted of intervals on the treadmill doing a Vancouver protocol that had us skiing techniques that you would find on the trails at the Olympic venue. We also did several head to head uphill intervals where we all start together in a mass start and ski all out- uphill for 4 minutes and repeat that 8 times. We finished off the week with a 3 times 20 minutes of uphill biking intervals.

On Sunday we all drove 7 hours north through Canada to get to the tip of Maine to the town of Fort Kent. We arrived in Fort Kent to hear bad news of one of our fellow junior athlete had been struck and killed by a car while rollerskiing. The driver was a recent high school graduate who had just taken his eyes off the road to grab a cell phone and didn’t see Willie Neal (age 19). Please pray for his family! 

In Fort Kent we’d be spending the next two weeks mainly focusing on rollerski intensity with shooting. Our first intensity session consisted of “max” intervals or an all out effort in a pursuit format. So we would start with someone in front of you to chase and someone behind you to chase you. These intervals were really tough and really fun. They become really competitive as you try really hard to catch the girl in front of you and try your hardest not to be caught by the girl behind you.

The middle of the week found us doing a 3 hour distance bike workout in Canada. Fort Kent is right on the border, so we all grabbed our passports and rode across the border for a workout. The next day we competed in a timed trial- a mock race. Our first one of the year. This one had 4 shooting stages and 5 loops of skiing. Lanny came in first place with only one miss out of 20 and Tracy came in 2^nd with 3 misses out of 20. Haley Johnson    , of Lake Placid, was 3^rd.

Near the end of the week we did another race, but this one was just for fun. It was a bed race, held at the annual Acadian Festival in Madawaska, Maine. See pictures below. The ski club in Madawaska had a bed, but no women to run the race, so we volunteered. We raided a local coaches costume box and got ready for the race. The race was held on main street in Madawaska and there was a huge crowd. It was very entertaining because all of us women got really nervous and excited for the race, more so than for our time trial the other day. We weren’t going to lose the race! There were 5 person teams, 4 pushers and 1 person who laid on the bed in a very large “onezy” pajama. You had to push the bed down one side of the street to a designated area, then the person in the pajamas would take them off and then another member of the team would put them on and then you’d push the bed back up the street to where you started to the finish. With a strong sprint and a good changing of the pajamas, the women’s national team won first place in the bed race.

One more intensity session rounded out the week. It consisted of one hour and twenty minutes of threshold. Threshold is the pace at which your lactic acid starts to build at a rate in which your body can no longer flush it. It’s a pace just lower than that in which we race at. It was a long and hard workout, but a good way to end the week.

The weather here in Maine has been very unseasonable. We’ve had tons of rain, it has seemed more like fall than summer. We are looking forward to some sun and summer like weather.

We have one more hard week ahead of us, then we head out to Utah for some altitude training and some sunny weather!

Place       LAST NAME First Name            Shooting P S Total      Finish Total Time             Time Back

1  Dunklee Susan                                              1 1    2                24:55.3                    +0:00.0 

2 Barnes Lanny                                                 1 0   1                 25:17.1                    +0:21.8 

3 Barnes Tracy                                                 1 1   2                 25:44.5                    +0:49.2 

4  Cook Annelies                                                1 2   3                26:17.8                    +1:22.5 

5  Spector Laura                                                    1 3   4               26:22.8                     +1:27.5 

6 Studebaker Sara                                             1 2    3               26:35.5                     +1:40.1

7 Chamberlain BethAnn                                       3 0    3               27:43.2                     +2:47.9 

8 Wygant Jen                                                   1 2    3               28:07.6                     +3:12.2 

9  Howe Katrina                                                3 2    5               29:18.6                     +4:23.3 

10  Schultz Melanie                                           2 2    4               29:21.3                     +4:26.0

Pursuit Race Results:m (Top Ten)

Place LAST NAME First Name     Shooting P P S S    Total               Total Time                    Time Back

1  BarnesTracy                                       0 0 0 0      0                    31:27.7                        +0:00.0 

2  Barnes Lanny                                     1 1 0 0      2                    33:45.8                        +2:18.1 

3  Cook Annelies                                    1 0 2 1      4                    34:45.8                         +3:18.1 

4  Dunklee Susan                                   3 3 1 1      8                    35:14.1                         +3:46.3    

5  Studebaker Sara                                0 1 3 2      6                    35:25.3                         +3:57.5

6  Spector Laura                                        1 3 2 2      8                    35:27.9                         +4:00.2 

7  Wygant Jen                                       1 0 3 0      4                    35:55.8                         +4:28.0 

8  Schultz Melanie                                 0 1 2 1      4                    37:15.5                          +5:47.8 

9  Chamberlain BethAnn                        2 4 0 2      8                    37:55.2                           +6:27.5 

10 Howe Katrina                                   1 2 3 2      8                    38:20.8                          +6:53.1 

 
Mass Start Race Results:(Top Ten)

Place    Name        Shooting  P P S S    Total                       Final Time                              Behind

1  Barnes Tracy                   0 0 1 0      1                       0:44:23.9                         00:00.0 

2  Spector Laura                      4 2 0 2      8                       0:47:56.9                         03:33.0

3  Cook Annelies                  1 2 2 2      7                        0:48:31.6                        04:07.7 

4  Studebaker Sara              1 0 4 2      7                        0:49:07.3                        04:43.4

5  Chamberlain BethAnn        1 3 1 2      7                        0:49:31.4                        05:07.5

6  Schultz Melanie               3 0 0 0      3                        0:49:34.6                        05:10.7 

7  Dunklee Susan                3 3 2 3      11                       0:49:53.0                        05:29.2 

8  Howe Katrina                  3 2 3 2      10                       0:51:26.4                        07:02.5

9  Wygant Jen                    3 3 4 2     12                        0:53:19.6                        08:55.7 

10 Teela Denise                  2 3 2 1      8                         0:56:00.0                        11:36.2 

 Biathletes spend time with fans

BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY BRIDGET BROWN Joel Hinshaw of Freeport (second from right) helps Ethan Humphries, 10, also of Freeport with his shooting as Mike Yeo of Yarmouth assists Carrie Adams, 13, also of Yarmouth, Friday at 10th Mountain Ski Club in Fort Kent. The four are part of the Southern Maine Biathlon Club which has a group of approximately 30 youngsters and 60 parents up for the weekend. Members of the public also took part in a citizens' race and rifle instruction.

By Julia Bayly
Special to the NEWS

FORT KENT, Maine — It’s not often youngsters get the chance to meet their sports idols, much less get some one-on-one training tips, but for a group of young southern Maine biathletes, everything fell into place this weekend.
The contingent of 30 8- to 15-year-old students and their parents from the Southern Maine Biathlon Club were in Fort Kent this weekend to watch the U.S. National Biathlon Championships and North American Biathlon Cup races and take part in a citizens’ race Saturday afternoon.
As part of that race, biathletes took time off from their training schedules to give their fans some pointers.
“It’s so awesome to see these kids,” Tracy Barnes-Colliander said. “These kids were in the same situation Lanny and I were in when we started — we had a club but” no shooting range.
Barnes-Colliander and her twin sister, Lanny Barnes, natives of Durango, Colo., trained and lived in Fort Kent in the years leading up to their 2006 Winter Olympic U.S. Biathlon Team appearance.
On Sunday Barnes-Colliander captured the gold medal in the women’s mass start race and took gold on Saturday for the women’s pursuit.
Her sister won the silver on Saturday, but a reoccurring foot injury kept her out of Sunday’s race.
The two, along with BethAnn Chamberlain of Caribou, seemed more than happy to spend time Sunday afternoon with the students talking about everything from the future of their sport to high school soccer.
“It’s so cool to see these young people here,” Chamberlain said. “They are the ones who will grow into the new generation of biathletes.”
The day before a for-fun club and citizens’ biathlon race after official competition at the 10th Mountain Center drew close to 70 participants and several of the athletes stuck around to work with the youngsters on marksmanship and ski skills.
Among them was Grace Boutot of Fort Kent who had some special fans in the crowd and on the practice range.
“This is really so exciting to see so many kids here from all over Maine,” Boutot said Saturday afternoon. “Some of them are really good shots.”
Boutot, just off a gold medal win for the youth women’s pursuit, was working with her nephews Austin, 6, and Ethan, 4, on the range.
“I never did this before,” Austin said after taking his turn with the designated air rifle. “Grace was helping me and with her here I was more brave.”
Austin and Ethan were in the stands along with their mother, Jessica Thibeault, Grace’s older sister, cheering her along the course earlier that day.
“I think she is just awesome,” Thibeault said. “She’s got such focus and dedication.”
Tiki Humphries, a coach and personal trainer from North Yarmouth, was with the southern Maine club and said the weekend was all she had hoped it would be.
“It was all about watching the competition, learning and taking it all in,” Humphries said. “We want the kids to know they can do this.”
The southern Maine club is affiliated with the Maine Winter Sports Center and Humphries said that relationship has allowed her skiers to experience biathlon up close.
“The kids really look up to these athletes,” Humphries said. “It just means the world to them that the athletes would take the time to come and talk to them.”
Such one-on-one interaction, Humphries said, makes the sport more attainable.
“Now our kids can go home and say they know these athletes,” she said. “They can watch the events and it’s very real to them now and they can believe they can do it, too.”
Gary Colliander    , coach with MWSC, agreed, saying events such as the citizens’ fun race are a great place to get people of all ages fired up about the sport.
“It was unbelievable seeing all the participants,” he said. “It’s just what we had hoped for. Biathlon has a great future here.”

           Unfortunately, the short-term forecast was for continued warm temperatures accompanied by rain and strong winds from late Thursday into Friday. This combination of rain and wind devastated the thinly covered tracks. The organizers have made some changes regarding the tracks and are worked hard to preserve the existing snow. Temperatures reached a high of +8 to +15C, but the volunteers in the stadium worked over night to truck in snow from a ski area 30 minutes away and lay out snow on the track. The day of the first competition 2/14, the organizers decided to try and pull off the race. All 110 women who were entered in the race jumped on the bus to the venue and were questioning whether they should’ve brought a swim suit instead of gloves, hats, and race suits.  Despite the odd conditions that consisted of trudging through several feet of slushy snow on the steepest hills we’ve had to race on yet and holding on for dear life as we rocketed down the sketchy downhill’s on our Nordic boards that are only 3 inches wide Tracy and I held on to some pretty good results and made it into the pursuit the next day. Lanny finished 46^th and Tracy was 56^th and within reach of the top competitors for the next days competition. With seconds or tenths of a second separating every competitor there was an emphesis on every second over the 7.5km sprint course and a chance to move up in the 4 stage 10km pursuit race.

        To make things interesting in Korea the weather did a flip flop and presented us with frigid temperatures and ice. The sprint race was +15 C and when we woke up the next day for the pursuit competition, the temperature had dropped to -15 C.  Although most of the course was a sheet of ice the competitions went on as planned and all the athletes dug in for a wild ride. On top of the ice and cold temperatures strong winds picked up and continued throughout the competition making it tough on the shooting range. We both had strong running in the pursuit race and were able to move up in the ranks. Lanny had a great race and move up to within reach on the leader and a medal by her last shooting. When she came in for her final shooting she recorded a missed shot, her only miss of the day, but that doused her chances for a medal and she finished in 39^th place not far from the leaders. Tracy struggled a little bit with the wind and recorded 5 misses for the day, but was still able the move up to 55^th position.  

       We had two day “off” between the sprint/pursuit and the individual race. During the two off days we spent our time training and making last minute adjustments. We skied the course with our coaches to go over a strategy and work on ski technique, did video analsys of both our shooting and our skiing. Dryfired our rifles (drills that we do without ammunition) and tested our skis with our wax technicians. Worked on getting as much recovery as we could such as massage, stretching, naps, replacing lost glycogen stores and flushing lactic acid build up in our muscles from the previous races. It wouldn’t be until after the individual that the coaches would allow us some time off to go and experience the Korean culture.

      The Individual race was a huge change from the sprint and pursuit and presented us with more normal conditions and better tracks. Although a thin track of snow still snaked through the bare Korean landscape, they had made snow and given the athletes a better race to look forward too. We were both looking forward to strong winds which we had seen since we arrived in Korea. We both had figured out the wind and with a shooting race like the individual we both felt we had a good chance. Unfortunately there was barely any wind, but the tracks were in great condition. Lanny finished 42^nd with one penalty (one more hit and she would’ve been top ten) and Tracy was 59^th with two penalties out of the 110 women that started.

       Our last race at World Champs was the women's relay. Lanny was the first leg of the relay, with  Haley Johnson     second, Carloyn Treacy third, and Tracy 4^th  and final leg. We finished in 10th place, the best US women's finish since 1997 and beat last years World Championship team Norway.

         After World Champs we head back to the US for a ten day training camp before the pre-Olympic World Cup in Vancouver.  

Summary: Altenberg, Germany. Lanny Barnes logged another top 20 on the IBU Cup to lead the US Team while Russell Currier 45th was the best result for the men. Full Story, photos and link to results.

Lanny Barnes (Durango, CO) again came through with another strong performance today in the Sprint race at the IBU Cup. Barnes who spent Christmas with relatives in Germany so she could compete in front of 51,000 screaming fans at the Biathlon Grand Prix in the German soccer stadium for the Schalke 04 Team has been riding a high with her confidence as of late. Cleaning her prone with 5 solid hits Barnes’ only mistake would come in her standing stage. National Team Coach Gary Colliander     commented, “Lanny had another strong race today. Former German National Team member Katja Beer was announcing the past two days and she was happy to announce Lanny was in 5th place after her prone stage today.” Barnes finished 1 minute 32 seconds behind winner Juliane Doll of Germany who also had 1 penalty and a winning time of 22:01. Natalia Sokolova of Russia was 2nd with 2 penalties, 26.2 seconds back and Latvia’s Madara Liduma was 3rd with 2 penalties, 26.7 seconds back. Sara Studebaker (Boise, ID) made a strong jump today hitting 8 of 10 targets to claim 28th place. She was followed by Laura Spector     (Lenox, MA) in 30th with 3 penalties, Tracy Barnes (Durango, CO) in 36th with 2 penalties, Susan Dunklee (Barton, VT) in 38th with 3 penalties, and Carolyn Bramante (Duluth, MN) in 39th with 2 penalties.

“I’m happy with the overall efforts by everyone today,” commented Colliander. “Everyone left the start gate today looking for that extra gear and whether or not they found it they tried to find it and that’s a good sign. Shooting conditions today were perfect with no wind so that kept the results very tight. Good signs for us as we head to Nove Mesto, Czech Republic next week.”

Jan. 10, 2009
Lanny Barnes 18th in Individual IBU Cup

Summary: Altenberg, Germany – The weather forecast called for another beautiful day for the Sachsen region of Northeast Germany. What the weatherman forgot to mention was the morning snowfall and the afternoon fog.

Mother Nature brought out a few tricks of her own keeping the athletes, staff and organizing committee guessing all day.

In the Women’s Individual, Lanny Barnes (Durango, CO) led the U.S. Women with an 18th place finish despite 3 penalties in gusting wind. With only 1 penalty after her second shooting bout, the announcers had Barnes in 3rd place. Carolyn Bramante (Duluth, MN) took some time off from Medical School to join the Team and finished in 32nd place with 5 penalties. Bramante cleaned both prone stages taking all of her misses in standing. Susan Dunklee (Barton, VT) finished 40th with 8 penalties, followed by Tracy Barnes (Durango, CO) in 42nd also with 8 penalties, Sara Studebaker (Boise, ID) in 43 with 7 penalties, and Laura Spector     (Lenox, MA) with 10 penalties. “Shooting conditions were tough today. Lanny put a good race together and Susan had a good showing considering this was her first international competition. I think she was just a little nervous last night,” commented National Team Coach Gary Colliander     with a smile. Germany took the top two spots with local hometown girls Romy Beer and Anne Preussler. Winning in a time of 46:56 Beer won by 22 seconds over Preussler, each having 3 penalties. Lyudmyla Pysarenko of Ukraine was 3rd with 1 penalty, 29 seconds back.

Christmas With The Kaichers!!!!

I have spent most of my Christmas’ away from home and not all of them in your typical white winter settings. With relatives in Florida and California I had an occasional green Christmas growing up where we were wearing shorts instead of bundled up from head to toe in warm winter clothing. This year was to be my first Christmas in my home town of Durango, Colorado since 2001, but plans change as they always do and I was once again going to be spending Christmas overseas and away from home. Instead of making my way to my favorite spot in Ridnaun, Italy I called up my German relatives who live in Saarbrucken, Germany and set up what was to be my first German Christmas. With very few relatives left in the U.S. and most of my relatives living in Germany it seemed only fitting that I start getting to know my relatives better and also their strong German traditions.

After the end of the World Cups for 2008 on the 22^nd of December I jumped in the team bus with the seat all the way forward so I could reach the peddles and hit the autobahn for a 3 hour drive to the German/French boarder and the town of Saarbrucken. There I was greeted by the Kaicher family, my Aunt Elisabeth, Uncle Helmuth, and Cousins Franzi and Mikael. After an amazing meal of meats, cheeses, and vegetables that were cooked over a large hot plate right at the table, I went straight to work practicing my German which has always been a little rusty and even got even worse after sampling local beers from the brewery in town

. 

The next day consisted of visiting the family grave sight, which was home to generations of my family’s relatives, touring the Christmas market where we sampled gluwine and foods traditional to the area and to Germany, and touring a castle and several really old churches. Later that night I got a real good lesson in Rummy and learned that no matter how old you are you can still be great at cards. Helmuth’s mom who is 87 years old was the victor in the card game even while telling story after story of her travels around the world and what it was like growing up in Germany when she was little.

The 24^th of December I found out was when most Germans celebrate Christmas. I, on the other hand was used to celebrating Christmas on the 25^th with the opening of presents on the morning of the 25^th followed by a big feast that night. We’d usually spend the day working up an appetite by sledding or downhill skiing, but this Christmas was to be even better as my German relatives promised 3 days of festivities and celebration.  We spent most of the day wrapping presents, swapping stories, and decorating the Christmas tree. That evening we attended a Christmas mass and afterwards came home to a presents and a big meal.

I left very early in the morning on the 26^th to head to the World Team Challenge in the Schalke stadium, but still had an incredible time with my relatives. I learned so much about our family history and traditions as well as German history and traditions. I have always loved Germany and am definitely going to be spending more time with my relatives and getting to know them better. Maybe next year I will have the opportunity to spend Christmas with them, or they might be able to come over to the U.S. and see what it is like during a traditional American Christmas.

Barnes makes biathlon history

by Herald Staff Report

Article Last Updated; Friday, January 16, 2009

Durango native and U.S. Olympian Lanny Barnes helped make biathlon history recently in Germany.

Barnes, a member of the U.S. Olympic Biathlon Team, participated in one of biathlon's premier events, the Veltins Biathlon World Team Challenge, at the famed Schalke-Arena soccer stadium in western Germany.

Barnes and her ski partner, Jay Hakkinen of Alaska, became the first American biathlon team invited to the exclusive event.

Teams from Germany, Norway, France, Russia, Ukraine and the United States competed before an announced crowd of 51,000 spectators. There were 10 "pairs" teams in the three-stage contest.

In the first of three events, Barnes finished fourth among the women in the semifinals, and eventually placed sixth out of the 20 athletes in the shoot-out competition. She finished ahead of several male and female medalists from the 2006 Olympics.

In the second event, a mixed-relay sprint race, Barnes and Hakkinen finished seventh.

In the final event, a mass-start pursuit race, the American duo finished ninth.

For Barnes, a soccer fan, the competition offered a unique opportunity.

"It was just fantastic to start in a soccer stadium of that size," Barnes told the media representative for USA Biathlon.

"I always wanted to go to a German soccer game, but to be able to compete in a biathlon race in one of those big stadiums ... that is just like a dream," she said. "I was really excited to be able to race (in the Schalke-Arena)," said Hakkinen, of Kasilof, Alaska.

"As a biathlete you always hear how amazing it is to start in such a crowded arena. They were right. It was nothing ... but exciting," Hakkinen said.

Barnes said the scene was a particular challenge in the shooting phase of the competition.

"We had to get used to the atmosphere. It was so loud and such an amazing ambience. It took us a while to retrieve our usually good shooting," Barnes said.

Barnes and her twin sister, Tracy Barnes, and other members of the U.S. National Biathlon Team will continue on the World Cup circuit next week in Oberhof, Germany.

The Barnes twins are the daughters of the Thad and Deb Barnes     of Durango.

For more on the Biathlon World Team Challenge, including photos from the event, visit the Web sites www.biathlon.

teamusa.org or www.biathlon-aufschalke.de.

heraldsports@durangoherald.com

51.000 Spectators Watch U.S. Duo Fight in Soccer Stadium

Viktoria Franke - USA Biathlon December 28, 2008

Photo: Viktoria Franke

Hakkinen and Barnes in the soccer stadium